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terinary Medicine 
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North Grafton, MA 01536 



THE MASTER OF GAME 




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THE MASTER OF GAME 

BY EDWARD, SECOND DUKE OF 
YORK : THE OLDEST ENGLISH 
BOOK ON HUNTING : EDITED BY 
WM. A. and F. BAILLIE-GROHMAN 
WITH A FOREWORD BYTHEODORE 
ROOSEVELT 




LONDON 
CHATTO & WINDUS 

MCMIX 



Eâ5 



All rights reserved 



CONTENTS 



CHAI'. PAGE 

xi 



Introduction 

Foreword to the First Edition . 

I. The Prologue .... 

II. Of the Hare and of her Nature 

III. Of the Hart and his Nature 

IV. Of the Buck and of his Nature. 
V. Of the Roe and of his Nature . 



VI. Of the Wild Boar and of his Nature 46 



VII. Of the Wolf and of his Nature 

VIII. Of the Fox and of his Nature . 

IX. Of the Grey (Badger) and of his 
Nature 

X. Of the (Wild) Cat and its Nature 

XI. The Otter and his Nature . 

XII. Of the Manner and Habits and Con 
ditions of Hounds . 



XIX 

1 
14 
23 
38 
41 



54 

64 

68 
70 
72 

75 



XIII. Of Sicknesses of Hounds and of their 

Corruptions ..... 85 



vi CONTENTS 

CHAP. PAGE 

XIV. Of Running Hounds and of their 

Nature 105 

XV. Of Greyhounds and of their Nature 113 

XVI. Of Alauntes and of their Nature . 116 

XVII. Of Spaniels and of their Nature . 119 

XVIII. Of the Mastiff and of his Nature . 122 

XIX. What Manner and Condition a 

Good Hunter should have . . 123 

XX. How the Kennel for the Hounds 
and the Couples for the Raches 
and the Ropes for the Lymer 
should be made . . . .125 

XXI. How the Hounds should be led out 

TO SCOMBRE 127 

XXIL How a Hunter's Horn should be 

Driven 128 

XXIII. How a Man should lead his Groom 

in Quest for to know a Hart 

by his Trace 130 

XXIV. How a Man should know a Great 

Hart by the Fumes . . «133 

XXV. How a Man should know a Great 
Hart by the Place where he 
hath Frayed his Head . . 135 



CONTENTS vii 

CHAP. PAGE 

XXVI. How the Ordinance should be made 
for the Hart Hunting byStrength 
and how the Hart should be 
Harboured 148 

XXVII. How a Hunter should go in Quest 

by the Sight ..... 152 

XXVIII. How an Hunter should go in Quest 
between the plains and the 
Wood 154 

XXIX. How a Hunter should go in Quest 
, in the Coppice and the Young 
Wood 155 

XXX. How an Hunter should go in Quest 

in Great Coverts and Strengths 156 

XXXI. How a Hunter should Quest in 

Clear Spires and High Wood . 157 

XXXII. How a Good Hunter shall go in 

Quest to hear the Harts Bellow 161 

XXXIII. How the Assembly that Men call 

Gathering should be made both 
Winter and Summer after the 
guise of beyond the Sea . .163 

XXXIV. How the Hart should be moved 

with the Lymer and Run to and 
Slain with Strength . . .165 



viii CONTENTS 

CHAP. PAGE 

XXXV. How an Hunter should Seek and 
Find the Hare with Running 
Hounds and Slay her with 
Strength ..... 1S1 

XXXVI. Of the Ordinance and the Manner 
of Hunting when the King will 
Hunt in Forests or in Parks 
for the Hart with Bows and 
Greyhounds and Stable . . 188 

Appendix 201 

List of some Books Consulted and 

Abbreviations used in Text . 268 

Glossary 282 

Index 299 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Fox Hunting " Above Ground " Frontispiece 

Gaston Phœbus surrounded by 

Huntsmen and Hounds . . To face page i 

The Hare and her Leverets . „ 14 

How to Quest for the Hart in 

Woods „ 22 

Buck-hunting with Running Hounds ,, 38 

Roebuck-hunting with Greyhounds 

and Running Hounds ,, 44 

Badger-drawing .... „ 68 

Otter-hunting ..... ,, 72 

How the Hounds were Led Out . ,, 86 

Raches or Running Hounds in the 

Fifteenth Century ... ,, 106 

The Smooth and the Rough-coated 

Greyhounds . . . . ,, 114 

The Five Breeds of Hounds de- 
scribed in the Text . . . „ 122 

The Kennel and Kennelmen . . ,, 126 



x ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Master Teaching his Huntsman 
how to Quest for the Hart 
with the Limer or Trackhound To face page 130 

How a great Hart is to be known 

by his "Fumes" (Excrements) . ,, 134 

How the Hunter should view the 

Hart „ 152 

How to Quest for the Hart in 

Coverts „ 164 

Hare-hunting with Greyhounds 

and Running Hounds . . „ 182 

Hare-driving with Low Bells . „ 184 

Netting Hares in their "Muses" . „ 186 

The " Undoing " or Gralloching of 
the Hart: the Master Instruct- 
ing his Hunters how it is Done „ 192 

Hart-hunting with Greyhounds and 

Raches ,, 196 

The " Curée " or Rewarding of the 

Hounds „ 198 

Shooting Hares with Blunt Bolts . ,, 220 



INTRODUCTION 

The " Master of Game " is the oldest as well as 
the most important work on the chase in the 
English language that has come down to us from 
the Middle Ages. 

Written between the years 1406 and 141 3 by 
Edward III.'s grandson Edward, second Duke of 
York, our author will be known to every reader 
of Shakespeare's " Richard II.," for he is no other 
than the arch traitor Duke of Aumarle, previously 
Earl of Rutland, who, according to some historians, 
after having been an accomplice in the murder of 
his uncle Gloucester, carried in his own hand on 
a pole the head of his brother-in-law. The 
student of history, on the other hand, cannot 
forget that this turbulent Plantagenet was the 
gallant leader of England's vanguard at Agin- 
court, where he was one of the great nobles who 
purchased with their lives what was probably the 
most glorious victory ever vouchsafed to English 
arms. 

He tells us in his Prologue, in which he dedi- 
cates his " litel symple book " to Henry, eldest 



xii INTRODUCTION 

son of his cousin Henry IV., " Kyng of Jngelond 
and of Fraunce," that he is the Master of Game 
at the latter's court. 

Let it at once be said that the greater part of 
the book before us is not the original work of 
Edward of York, but a careful and almost literal 
translation from what is indisputably the most 
famous hunting book of all times, i.e. Count 
Gaston de Foix's Livre de Chasse ', or, as author and 
book are often called, Gaston Phœbus, so named 
because the author, who was a kinsman of the 
Plantagenets, and who reigned over two princi- 
palities in southern France and northern Spain, 
was renowned for his manly beauty and golden 
hair. It is he of whom Froissart has to tell us so 
much that is quaint and interesting in his inimit- 
able chronicle. La Chasse, as Gaston de Foix tells 
us in his preface, was commenced on May I, 1387, 
and as he came to his end on a bear hunt not 
much more than four years later, it is very likely 
that his youthful Plantagenet kinsman, our author, 
often met him during his prolonged residence in 
Aquitaine, of which, later on, he became the 
Governor. 

Fortunately for us, the enforced leisure which 
the Duke of York enjoyed while imprisoned in 
Pevensey Castle for his traitorous connection with 
the plots of his sister to assassinate the King and 
to carry off their two young kinsmen, the Morti- 



INTRODUCTION xiii 

mers, the elder of whom was the heir presumptive 
to the throne, was of sufficient length to permit 
him not only to translate La Chasse but to add 
five original chapters dealing with English hunting. 

These chapters, as well as the numerous inter- 
polations made by the translator, are all of the 
first importance to the student of venery, for they 
emphasise the changes — as yet but very trifling 
ones — that had been introduced into Britain in the 
three hundred and two score years that had inter- 
vened since the Conquest, when the Frenchlanguage 
and French hunting customs became established 
on English soil. To enable the reader to see at a 
glance which parts of the " Master of Game " are 
original, these are printed in italics. 

The text, of which a modern rendering is here 
given, is taken from the best of the existing nine- 
teen MSS. of the "Master of Game," viz. the 
Cottonian MS. Vespasian B. XII., in the British 
Museum, dating from about 1420. The quaint 
English of Chaucer's day, with its archaic con- 
tractions, puzzling orthography, and long, obsolete 
technical terms in this MS. are not always as easy to 
read as those who only wish to get a general insight 
into the contents of the " Master of Game " might 
wish. It was a difficult question to decide to what 
extent this text should be modernised. If trans- 
lated completely into twentieth century English a 
great part of the charm and interest of the original 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

would be lost. For this reason many of the old 
terms of venery and the construction of sentences 
have been retained where possible, so that the 
general reader will be able to appreciate the 
" feeling " of the old work without being unduly 
puzzled. In a few cases where, through the 
omission of words, the sense was left undeter- 
mined, it has been made clear after carefully 
consulting other English MSS. and the French 
parent work. 

It seemed very desirable to elucidate the textual 
description of hunting by the reproduction of good 
contemporary illuminations, but unfortunately 
English art had not at that period reached the 
high state of perfection which French art had 
attained. As a matter of fact, only two of the 
nineteen English MSS. contain these pictorial aids, 
and they are of very inferior artistic merit. The 
French MSS. of La Chasse, on the other hand, are 
in several cases exquisitely illuminated, and MS. 
f. fr. 6 1 6, which is the copy from which our re- 
productions — much reduced in size, alas ! — are 
made, is not only the best of them, but is one of the 
most precious treasures of the Bibliothèque Nation- 
ale in Paris. These superb miniatures are unques- 
tionably some of the finest handiwork of French 
miniaturists at a period when they occupied the 
first rank in the world of art. 

The editors have added a short Appendix, eluci- 



INTRODUCTION xv 

dating ancient hunting customs and terms of the 
chase. Ancient terms of venery often baffle every 
attempt of the student who is not intimately ac- 
quainted with the French and German literature of 
hunting. On one occasion I appealed in vain to Pro- 
fessor Max Millier and to the learned Editor of the 
Oxford Dictionary. " I regret to say that I know 
nothing about these words," wrote Dr. Murray ; 
" terms of the chase are among the most difficult 
of words, and their investigation demands a great 
deal of philological and antiquarian research." 
There is little doubt that but for this difficulty 
the "Master of Game" would long ago have 
emerged from its seclusion of almost five hundred 
years. It is hoped that our notes will assist the 
reader to enjoy this hitherto neglected classic of 
English sport. Singularly enough, as one is 
almost ashamed to have to acknowledge, foreign 
students, particularly Germans, have paid far 
more attention to the " Master of Game " than 
English students have, and there are few manu- 
scripts of any importance about which English 
writers have made so many mistakes. This is all 
the more curious considering the precise informa- 
tion to the contrary so easily accessible on the 
shelves of the British Museum. All English 
writers with a single exception (Thomas Wright) 
who have dealt with our book have attributed it 
persistently to a wrong man and a wrong period. 

b 



xvi INTRODUCTION 

This has been going on for more than a century ; 
for it was the learned, but by no means always 
accurate, Joseph Strutt who first thrust upon the 
world, in his often quoted "Sports and Pastimes 
of the English People," certain misleading blunders 
concerning our work and its author. Blaine, 
coming next, adding thereto, was followed little 
more than a decade later by " Cecil," author of 
an equally much quoted book, " Records of the 
Chase." In it, when speaking of the " Master of 
Game," he says that hç has " no doubt that it is 
the production of Edmund de Langley," thus 
ascribing it to the father instead of to the son. 
Following " Cecil's " untrustworthy lead, Jesse, 
Lord Wilton, Vero Shaw, Dalziel, Wynn, the 
author of the chapter on old hunting in the Bad- 
minton Library volume on Hunting, and many 
other writers copied blindly these mistakes. 

Five years ago the present editors published in a 
large folio volume the first edition of the " Master 
of Game" in a limited and expensive form. It 
contained side by side with the ancient text a 
modernised version, extended biographical ac- 
counts of Edward of York and of Gaston de 
Foix (both personalities of singular historical and 
human interest), a detailed bibliography of the 
existing mediaeval hunting literature up to the end 
of the sixteenth century, a glossary, and a very 
much longer appendix than it was possible to insert 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

in the present volume, which, in order to make it 
conform to the series of which it forms part, had 
to be cut down to about one-sixth of the first 
edition. A similar fate had to befall the illustra- 
tions, which had to be reduced materially both in 
number and size. We would therefore invite the 
reader whose interest in the subject may possibly 
be aroused by the present pages, to glance at the 
perhaps formidable-looking pages of the first 
edition, with its facsimile photogravure reproduc- 
tions of the best French and English illuminations 
to be found in fifteenth century hunting literature. 

In conclusion, I desire to repeat also in this place 
the expression of my thanks to the authorities of 
the British Museum — to Dr. G. F. Warner and 
Mr. I. H. Jeayes in particular — to the heads of 
the Bodleian Library, the Bibliothèque Nationale, 
the Mazarin and the Arsenal Libraries in Paris, 
the Due d'Aumale's Library at Chantilly, the 
Bibliothèque Royale at Brussels, the Konigliche 
Bibliotheken in Munich and Dresden, the Kaiser- 
liche una Konigliche Haus, H of and Staats Archiv, 
and the K. and K. Hof Bibliothek in Vienna, to 
Dr. F. J. Furnivall, Mr. J. E. Harting, Mr. T. 
Fitzroy Fenwick of Cheltenham, and to express 
my indebtedness to the late Sir Henry Dryden, Bt., 
of Canons Ashby, for his kind assistance in my 
research work. 

To one person more than to any other my 



xviii INTRODUCTION 

grateful acknowledgment is due, namely to Mr. 
Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United 
States, who, notwithstanding the press of official 
duties, has found time to write the interesting 
Foreword. A conscientious historian of his own 
great country, as well as one of its keenest sports- 
men, President Roosevelt's qualifications for this 
kindly office may be described as those of a modern 
Master of Game. No more competent writer 
could have been selected to introduce to his 
countrymen a work that illustrates the spirit 
which animated our common forbears five cen- 
turies ago, their characteristic devotion to the 
chase, no less than their intimate acquaintance 
with the habits and " nature " of the wild game 
they pursued : all attributes worthy of some study 
by the reading sportsmen of the twentieth century, 
who, as I show, have hitherto neglected the study 
of English Venery. It was at first intended to 
print this Foreword only in the American Edition, 
but it soon became evident that this would give 
to it an advantage which readers in this country 
would have some reason to complain of, so it was 
inserted also in the English Edition, and from it 
taken over into the present one. 



London, March 3, 1909, 



FOREWORD 

TO THE FIRST EDITION 

During the century that has just closed English- 
men have stood foremost in all branches of sport, 
at least so far as the chase has been carried on by 
those who have not followed it as a profession. 
Here and there in the world whole populations have 
remained hunters, to whom the chase was part of 
their regular work — delightful and adventurous, 
but still work. Such were the American back- 
woodsmen and their successors of the great plains 
and the Rocky Mountains ; such were the South 
African Boers ; and the mountaineers of Tyrol, if 
not coming exactly within this class, yet treated 
the chase both as a sport and a profession. But 
disregarding these wild and virile populations, and 
considering only the hunter who hunts for the 
sake of the hunting, it must be said of the 
Englishman that he stood pre-eminent throughout 
the nineteenth century as a sportsman for sport's 
sake. Not only was fox-hunting a national pas- 
time, but in every quarter of the globe English- 
men predominated among the adventurous spirits 
who combined the chase of big game with bold 



xx FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION 

exploration of the unknown. The icy polar seas, 
the steaming equatorial forests, the waterless 
tropical deserts, the vast plains of wind-rippled 
grass, the wooded northern wilderness, the stupen- 
dous mountain masses of the Andes and the 
Himalayas — in short, all regions, however frown- 
ing and desolate, were penetrated by the restless 
English in their eager quest for big game. Not 
content with the sport afforded by the rifle, 
whether ahorse or afoot, the English in India 
developed the use of the spear and in Ceylon the 
use of the knife as the legitimate weapons with 
which to assail the dangerous quarry of the jungle 
and the plain. There were hunters of other 
nationalities, of course — Americans, Germans, 
Frenchmen ; but the English were the most 
numerous of those whose exploits were best worth 
recounting, and there was among them a larger 
proportion of men gifted with the power of nar- 
ration. Naturally under such circumstances a 
library of nineteenth century hunting must be 
mainly one of English authors. 

All this was widely different in the preceding 
centuries. From the Middle Ages to the period 
of the French Revolution hunting was carried on 
with keener zest in continental Europe than in 
England ; and the literature of the chase was far 
richer in the French, and even in the German, 
tongues than in the English. 



FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION xxi 

The Romans, unlike the Greeks, and still more 
unlike those mighty hunters of old, the Assyrians, 
cared little for the chase ; but the white-skinned, 
fair-haired, blue-eyed barbarians, who, out of the 
wreck of the Roman Empire, carved the States 
from which sprang modern Europe, were passion- 
ately devoted to hunting. Game of many kinds 
then swarmed in the cold, wet forests which 
covered so large a portion of Europe. The kings 
and nobles, and the freemen generally, of the 
regions which now make France and Germany, 
followed not only the wolf, boar, and stag — the 
last named the favourite quarry of the hunter of 
the Middle Ages — but the bear, the bison — which 
still lingers in the Caucasus and in one Lithuanian 
preserve of the Czar — and the aurochs, the huge 
wild ox — the Urus of Caesar — which has now 
vanished from the world. In the Nibelungen 
Lied, when Siegfried's feats of hunting are de- 
scribed, it is specified that he slew both the bear 
and the elk, the bison and the aurochs. One of 
the early Burgundian kings was killed while 
hunting the bison ; and Charlemagne was not 
only passionately devoted to the chase of these 
huge wild cattle, but it is said prized the prowess 
shown therein by one of his stalwart daughters. 

By the fourteenth century, when the Count of 
Foix wrote, the aurochs was practically or entirely 
extinct, and the bison had retreated eastwards, 



xxii FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION 

where for more than three centuries it held its 
own in the gloomy morasses of the plain south- 
east of the Baltic. In western Europe the game 
was then the same in kind that it is now, although 
all the larger species were very much more plenti- 
ful, the roebuck being perhaps the only one of 
the wild animals that has since increased in 
numbers. With a few exceptions, such as the 
Emperor Maximilian, the kings and great lords 
of the Middle Ages were not particularly fond of 
chamois and ibex hunting ; it was reserved for 
Victor Emmanuel to be the first sovereign with 
whom shooting the now almost vanished ibex was 
a favourite pastime. 

Eager though the early Norman and Planta- 
genet kings and nobles of England were in the 
chase, especially of the red deer, in France and 
Germany the passion for the sport was still 
greater. In the end, on the Continent the chase 
became for the upper classes less a pleasure than 
an obsession, and it was carried to a fantastic 
degree. Many of them followed it with brutal 
indifference to the rights of the peasantry and to 
the utter neglect of all the serious affairs of life. 
During the disastrous period of the Thirty Years 
War, the Elector of Saxony spent most of his 
time in slaughtering unheard-of numbers of red 
deer ; if he had devoted his days and his treasure 
to the urgent contemporary problems of statecraft 



FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION xxiii 

and warcraft he would have ranked more nearly 
with Gustavus Adolphus and Wallenstein, and 
would have stood better at the bar of history. 
Louis XVI. was also devoted to the chase in its 
tamer forms, and was shooting at driven game 
when the Paris mob swarmed out to take posses- 
sion of his person. The great lords, with whom 
love of hunting had become a disease, not merely 
made of game-preserving a grievous burden for 
the people, but also followed the chase in ways 
which made scant demands upon the hardier quali- 
ties either of mind or of body. Such debased 
sport was contemptible then ; and it is con- 
temptible now. Luxurious and effeminate arti- 
ficiality, and the absence of all demands for the 
hardy virtues, rob any pastime of all title to 
regard. Shooting at driven game on occasions 
when the day's sport includes elaborate feasts in 
tents on a store of good things brought in waggons 
or on the backs of sumpter mules, while the sport 
itself makes no demand upon the prowess of the 
so-called sportsman, is but a dismal parody upon 
the stern hunting life in which the man trusts to 
his own keen eye, stout thews, and heart of steel 
for success and safety in the wild warfare waged 
against wild nature. 

Neither of the two authors now under con- 
sideration comes in this undesirable class. Both 
were mighty men with their hands, terrible in 



xxiv FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION 

battle, of imposing presence and turbulent spirit. 
Both were the patrons of art and letters, and both 
were cultivated in the learning of the day. For 
each of them the chase stood as a hardy and 
vigorous pastime of the kind which makes a 
people ; great. The one was Count Gaston de 
Foix, author of the most famous of mediaeval 
hunting-books, a mighty lord and mighty hunter, 
as well as statesman and warrior. The other was 
Edward, second Duke of York, who at Agincourt 
"died victorious." He translated into English 
a large portion of Gaston de Foix's La Chasse, 
adding to it five original chapters. He called his 
book "The Master of Game." 

Gaston's book is better known as Gaston 
Phœbus, the nickname of the author which Frois- 
sart has handed down. He treats not only 
of the animals of France, but of the ibex, the 
chamois, and the reindeer, which he hunted in 
foreign lands. " The Master of Game " is the 
oldest book on hunting in the English language. 
The original chapters are particularly interesting 
because of the light they throw upon English 
hunting customs in the time of the Plantagenets. 
The book has never hitherto been published. 
Nineteen ancient manuscript copies are known ; 
of the three best extant two are on the shelves of 
the Bloomsbury treasure house, the other in the 
Bodleian Library. Like others of the famous old 



FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION xxv 

authors on venery, both the Count of Foix and 
the Duke of York show an astonishing familiarity 
with the habits, nature, and chase of their quarry. 
Both men, like others of their kind among their 
contemporaries, made of the chase not only an 
absorbing sport but almost the sole occupation of 
their leisure hours. They passed their days in 
the forest and were masters of woodcraft. Game 
abounded, and not only the chase but the killing 
of the quarry was a matter of intense excitement 
and an exacting test of personal prowess, for the 
boar, or the bear, or hart at bay was slain at close 
quarters with the spear or long knife. 

" The Master of Game " is not only of interest 
to the sportsman, but also to the naturalist, be- 
cause of its quaint accounts of the " nature " of 
the various animals ; to the philologist because of 
the old English hunting terms and the excellent 
translations of the chapters taken from the French; 
and to the lover of art because of the beautiful 
illustrations, with all their detail of costume, of 
hunting accoutrements, and of ceremonies of " la 
grande vénerie " — which are here reproduced in 
facsimile from one of the best extant French manu- 
scripts of the early fifteenth century. The trans- 
lator has left out the chapters on trapping and 
snaring of wild beasts which were contained in the 
original, the hunting with running hounds being 
the typical and most esteemed form of the sport. 



xxvi FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION 

Gaston Phœbus's La Chasse was written just 
over a century before the discovery of America ; 
" The Master of Game " some fifteen or twenty 
years later. The former has been reprinted many 
times. Mr. Baillie-Grohman in reproducing (for 
the first time) the latter in such beautiful form 
has rendered a real service to all lovers of sport, 
of nature, and of books — and no one can get the 
highest enjoyment out of sport unless he can live 
over again in the library the keen pleasure he 
experienced in the wilderness. 

In modern life big-game hunting has assumed 
many widely varied forms. There are still re- 
mote regions of the earth in which the traveller 
must depend upon his prowess as a hunter for 
his subsistence, and here and there the foremost 
settlers of new country still war against the game 
as it has been warred against by their like since 
time primeval. But over most of the earth such 
conditions have passed away for ever. Even in 
Africa game preserving on a gigantic scale has 
begun. Such game preserving may be of two 
kinds. In one the individual landed proprietor, 
or a group of such individuals, erect and maintain 
a private game preserve, the game being their 
property just as much as domestic animals. Such 
preserves , of ten fill a useful purpose, and if man- 
aged intelligently and with a sense of public spirit 



FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION xxvii 

and due regard for the interests and feelings of 
others, may do much good, even in the most demo- 
cratic community. But wherever the population 
is sufficiently advanced in intelligence and char- 
acter, a far preferable and more democratic way of 
preserving the game is by a system of public pre- 
serves, of protected nurseries and breeding-grounds, 
while the laws define the conditions under which 
all alike may shoot the game and the restrictions 
under which all alike must enjoy the privilege. 
It is in this way that the wild creatures of the 
forest and the mountain can best and most per- 
manently be preserved. Even in the United 
States the enactment and observance of such laws 
has brought about a marked increase in the game 
of certain localities, as, for instance, New England, 
during the past thirty years ; while in the Yellow- 
stone Park the elk, deer, antelope, and mountain 
sheep, and, strangest of all, the bear, are not 
merely preserved in all their wild freedom, but, 
by living unmolested, have grown to show a con- 
fidence in man and a tameness in his presence such 
as elsewhere can be found only in regions where 
he has been hitherto unknown. 

The chase is the best of all national pastimes, 
and this none the less because, like every other 
pastime, it is a mere source of weakness if carried 
on in an unhealthy manner, or to an excessive 
degree, or under over-artificial conditions. Every 



xxviii FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION 

vigorous game, from football to polo, if allowed 
to become more than a game, and if serious work 
is sacrificed to its enjoyment, is of course noxious. 
From the days when Trajan in his letters to Pliny 
spoke with such hearty contempt of the Greek 
over-devotion to athletics, every keen thinker has 
realised that vigorous sports are only good in their 
proper place. But in their proper place they are 
very good indeed. The conditions of modern life 
are highly artificial, and too often tend to a soften- 
ing of fibre, physical and moral. It is a good 
thing for a man to be forced to show self-reliance, 
resourcefulness in emergency, willingness to en- 
dure fatigue and hunger, and at need to face risk. 
Hunting is praiseworthy very much in proportion 
as it tends to develop these qualities. Mr. Baillie- 
Grohman, to whom most English-speaking lovers 
of sport owe their chief knowledge of the feats in 
bygone time of the great hunters of continental 
Europe, has himself followed in its most manly 
forms this, the manliest of sports. He has hunted 
the bear, the wapiti, and the mountain ram in the 
wildest regions of the Rockies, and, also by fair 
stalking, the chamois and the red deer in the Alps. 
Whoever habitually follows mountain game in 
such fashion must necessarily develop qualities 
which it is a good thing for any nation to see 
brought out in its sons. Such sport is as far re- 
moved as possible from that in which the main 



FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION xxix 

object is to make huge bags at small cost of effort, 
and with the maximum of ease, no good quality 
save marksmanship being required. Laying stress 
upon the mere quantity of game killed, and the 
publication of the record of slaughter, are sure 
signs of unhealthy decadence in sportsmanship. 
As far as possible the true hunter, the true lover 
of big game and of life in the wilderness, must be 
ever ready to show his own power to shift for 
himself. The greater his dependence upon others 
for his sport the less he deserves to take high rank 
in the brotherhood of rifle, horse, and hound. 
There was a very attractive side to the hunting of 
the great mediaeval lords, carried on with an elabo- 
rate equipment and stately ceremonial, especially as 
there was an element of danger in coming to close 
quarters with the quarry at bay ; but after all, no 
form of hunting has ever surpassed in attractive- 
ness the life of the wilderness wanderer of our 
own time — the man who with simple equipment, 
and trusting to his own qualities of head, heart, 
and hand, has penetrated to the uttermost regions 
of the earth, and single-handed slain alike the 
wariest and the grimmest of the creatures of the 
waste. 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 



February 15, 1904. 







Tteî 



Owtmueucr Icpjolûjucou 
luut ôc la cinftr q uc ûfrle cona 
titrons ft fot'S cr flrunimr 

ju nom (Tût 

honneur ce 

}cucu orateur 

Ccupteur 




JfrSWCCftM 

tifl-fïôufomr 
rtpcnf . a nmrr ta fauutctwurc 




crcrtawatjçnnanc «eroercus 
ic$ Canins «• famrtts qtn four 
ot la çacr or otrn je jRflon yar 
latjiaa Cr ûuu fm-uouuurplrâ 
cenrr tcfw «rigueur fie ttart 
qui mut mon truu* u»r ûn$ ira 
tr par dpcoai en. tM.dofiwiiuw 
cfr eu atuics.launt rtr a» mitos. 
Criauot ûett m (raftr.ermr 
Ors cnirorTin* d raot cctueit 
imrs maiôics nop que if ne (w. 
Carreop et meifleure driiaurrs 



: : 




GASTON PHŒBUS SURROUNDED BY HUNTSMEN 
AND HOUNDS 



(From MS. f. fr. 616, Bib. Nat., Paris) 



THE MASTER OF GAME 



CHAPTER I 

THE PROLOGUE 

To the honour and reverence of you my right 
worshipful and dread Lord Henry by the grace of 
God eldest son and heir unto the high excellent 
and Christian Prince Henry IV. by the aforesaid 
grace King of England and of France, Prince of 
Wales, Duke of Guienne of Lancaster and of Corn- 
wall, and Earl of Chester. 

I your own in every humble wise have me ventured 
to make this little simple book which I recommend 
and submit to your noble and wise correction, which 
book if it fleaseth your aforesaid Lordship shall be 
named and called MASTER OF GAME. And 
for this cause : for the matter that this book treateth 
of what in every season of the year is most durable, 
and to my thinking to every gentle heart most dis- 
portful of all games, that is to say hunting. For 
though it be that hawking with gentle hounds and 
hawks for the heron and the river be noble and com^ 

A 



2 THE MASTER OF GAME 

mendable, it lasteth seldom at the most more than 
half a year. For though men find from. May unto 
Lammas (August ist) game enough to hawk at, no 
one will find hawks to hawk with. 1 But as of 
hunting there is no season of all the year, that game 
may not he found in every good country, also hounds 
ready to chase it. And since this hook shall he all 
of hunting, which is so noble a game, and lasting 
through all the year of divers beasts that grow 
according to the season for the gladdening of 
man, I think I may well call it MASTER OF 
GAME. 

And though it be so my dear Lord, that many 
could better have meddled with this matter and also 
more ably than L, yet there be two things that have 
'principally emboldened and caused me to take this 
work in hand. The first is trust of your noble cor- 
rection, to which as before is said, I submit this 
little and simple book. The second is that though I 
be unworthy, L am Master of this Game with that 
noble prince your Father our all dear sovereign and 
liege Lord aforesaid. And as I would not that his 
hunters nor yours that now be or that should come 
hereafter did not know the perfection of this art, I 
shall leave for these this simple memorial, for as 
Chaucer saith in his prologue of " The 25 2 Good 
Women " : " By writing have men mind of thi7igs 

1 As the hawks would be mewing and unfit to fly. 

2 The Shirlev MS. in the British Museum has "XV." 



THE PROLOGUE 3 

passed, for writing is the key of all good remem- 
brance" 

And first I will begin by describing the nature 
of the hare, 1 secondly of the nature of the hart, 
thirdly of the buck and of his nature, fourthly of 
the roe and of his nature, fifthly of the wild boar 
and of his nature, sixthly of the wolf and of his 
nature, seventhly of the fox and of his nature, 
eighthly of the badger and of his nature, ninthly 
of the cat and of his nature, tenthly of the marten 
and his nature, eleventhly of the otter and of his 
nature. Now have I rehearsed how I will in this 
little book describe the nature of these aforesaid 
beasts of venery and of chace, and therefore will 
I name the hounds the which I will describe here- 
after, both of their nature and conditions. And 
first I will begin with raches (running hounds) 2 
and their nature, and then greyhounds and their 
nature, and then alaunts and their nature, and 
then spaniels and their nature, and then mastiffs 
that men call curs and their nature, and then of 

1 Gaston de Foix has a different sequence, putting the hart 
first and the hare sixth, and having four animals more, namely, 
the reindeer, the chamois (including ibex), the bear and the 
rabbit, while the "Master of Game" has one animal, the 
Marten, of which Gaston de Foix does not speak. 

2 Gaston de Foix follows a different sequence, commencing 
with alaunts, then greyhounds, raches, spaniels, and says 
"fifthly I will speak of all kinds of mongrel dogs, such as 
come from mastiffs and alaunts, from greyhounds and running 
hounds, and other such." 



4 THE MASTER OF GAME 

small curs that come to be terriers and their 
nature, and then I shall devise and tell the sick- 
nesses of hounds and their diseases. And further- 
more I will describe what qualities and manners 
a good hunter should have, and of what parts he 
should be, and after that I will describe the 
manner and shape of the kennel, and how it 
should be environed and arrayed. Also I will 
describe of what fashion a hunter's horn should 
be driven, and how the couplings should be made 
for the raches and of what length. Furthermore 
I will prove by sundry reasons in this little pro- 
logue, that the life of no man that useth gentle 
game and disport be less displeasable unto God 
than the life of a perfect and skilful hunter, 
or from which more good cometh. The first 
reason is that hunting causeth a man to eschew 
the seven deadly sins. Secondly men r 'are better 
when riding, more just and more understanding, 
and more alert and more at ease and more under- 
taking, and better knowing of all countries and all 
passages ; in short and long all good customs and 
manners cometh thereof, and the health of man 
and of his soul. For he that fleeth the seven 
deadly sins as we believe, he shall be saved, there- 
fore a good hunter shall be saved, and in this 
world have joy enough and of gladness and of 
solace, so that he keep himself from two things. 
One is that he leave not the knowledge nor the 



THE PROLOGUE 5 

service of God, from whom all good cometh, for 
his hunting. The second that he lose not the 
service of his master for his hunting, nor his own 
duties which might profit him most. Now shall 
I prove how a hunter may not fall into any of 
the seven deadly sins. When a man is idle and 
reckless without work, and be not occupied in 
doing some thing, he abides in his bed or in his 
chamber, a thing which draweth men to imagina- 
tions of fleshly lust and pleasure. For such men 
have no wish but always to abide in one place, and 
think in pride, or in avarice, or in wrath, or in 
sloth, or in gluttony, or in lechery, or in envy. 
For the imagination of men rather turns to evil 
than to good, for the three enemies which man- 
kind hath, are the devil, the world and the flesh, 
and this is proved enough. 

Nevertheless there be many other reasons which 
are too long to tell, and also every man that 
hath good reason knoweth well that idleness is 
the foundation of all evil imaginations. Now shall 
I prove how imagination is lord and master of all 
works, good or evil, that man's body or his limbs 
do. You know well, good or evil works small 
or great never were done but that beforehand 
they were imagined or thought of. Now shall 
you prove how imagination is the mistress of all 
deeds, for imagination biddeth a man do good or 
evil works, whichever it be, as before is said. And 



6 THE MASTER OF GAME 

if a man notwithstanding that he were wise should 
imagine always that he were a fool, or that he hath 
other sickness, it would be so, for since he would 
think steadfastly that he were a fool, he would do 
foolish deeds as his imagination would command, 
and he would believe it steadfastly. Wherefore 
methinks I have proved enough of imagination, 
notwithstanding that there be many other reasons 
the which I leave to avoid long writing. Every 
man that hath good sense knoweth well that this 
is the truth. 

Now I will prove how a good hunter may not 
be idle, and in dreaming may not have any evil 
imaginations nor afterwards any evil works. For 
the day before he goes out to his office, the night 
before he shall lay him down in his bed, and shall 
not think but for to sleep, and do his office well 
and busily, as a good hunter should. And he 
shall have nothing to do, but think about all 
that which he has been ordered to do. And he 
is not idle, for he has enough to do to think about 
rising early and to do his office without thinking 
of sins or of evil deeds. And early in the dawn- 
ing of the day he must be up for to go unto his 
quest, that in English is called searching, well and 
busily, for as I shall say more explicitly hereafter, 
when I shall speak of how men shall quest and 
search to harbour the hart. And in so doing he 
shall not be idle, for he is always busy. And 



THE PROLOGUE 7 

when he shall come again to the assembly or meet, 
then he hath most to do, for he must order his 
finders and relays for to move the hart, and un- 
couple his hounds. With that he cannot be idle, 
for he need think of nothing but to do his office, 
and when he hath uncoupled, yet is he less idle, 
and he should think less of any sins, for he hath 
enough to do to ride or to foot it well with his 
hounds and to be always near them and to hue or 
rout well, and blow well, and to look whereafter 
he hunteth, and which hounds are vanchasers and 
farfiters, 1 and redress and bring his hounds on the 
right line again when they are at fault 2 or hunt- 
ing rascal. 3 And when the hart is dead or what 
other chase he was hunting, then is he less idle, 
for he hath enough to do to think how to undo 
the hart in his manner and to raise that which 
appertaineth 4 to him, and well to do his curée. 5 
And he should look how many of his hounds are 
missing of those that he brought to the wood in 
the morning, and he should search for them, and 
couple them up. And when he has come home, 

1 The hounds that came in the first relay (van) and those 
in the subsequent relays. See Appendix : Relays. 

2 Diverted or off the line. 

3 Chasing small or lean deer. See Appendix : Hart. 

* To take those parts of the deer which fell to him by 
custom. 

5 Curée : The ceremony of giving the hounds their reward 
on the skin of the animal they have chased. See Appendix : 
Curée. 



8 THE MASTER OF GAME 

should he less think to do evil, for he hath enough 
to do to think of his supper, and to ease himself 
and his horse, and to sleep, and to take his rest, 
for he is weary, and to dry himself of the dew or 
peradventure of the rain. And therefore I say 
that all the time of the hunter is without idleness 
and without evil thoughts, and without evil works 
of sin, for as I have said idleness is the foundation 
of all vices and sins. And the hunter may not be 
idle if he would fill his office aright, and also he 
can have no other thoughts, for he has enough to 
do to think and imagine of his office, the which 
is no little charge, for whoso will do it well and 
busily, especially if they love hounds and their 
office. 

Wherefore I say that such an hunter is not idle, 
he can have no evil thoughts, nor can he do 
evil works, wherefore he must go into paradise. 1 
For by many other reasons which are too long to 
write can I prove these things, but it sufficeth 
that every man that hath good sense knoweth well 
that I speak the real truth. 

Now shall I prove how hunters live in this world 
more joyfully than any other men. For when the 
hunter riseth in the morning, and he sees a sweet 
and fair morn and clear weather and bright, and he 

1 Gaston de Foix in the French parent work puts it even 
more forcefully ; he says : " tout droit en paradis." See 
Lavallée's ed. 1854. 



THE PROLOGUE 9 

heareth the song of the small birds, the which 
sing so sweetly with great melody and full of love, 
each in it's own language in the best wise that 
it can according that it learneth of it's own kind. 
And when the sun is arisen, he shall see fresh dew 
upon the small twigs and grasses, and the sun by 
his virtue shall make them shine. And that is 
great joy and liking to the hunter's heart. After 
when he shall go to his quest or searching, he shall 
see or meet anon with the hart without great seek- 
ing, and shall harbour 1 him well and readily within 
a little compass. It is great joy and liking to the 
hunter. And after when he shall come to the 
assembly or gathering, and he shall report before 
the Lord and his company that which he hath seen 
with his eyes, or by scantilon (measure) of the 
trace (slot) which he ought always of right to 
take, or by the fumes 2 (excrements) that he shall 
put in his horn or in his lap. And every man shall 
say : Lo, here is a great hart and a deer of high 
meating or pasturing ; go we and move him ; the 
which things I shall declare hereafter, then can 
one say that the hunter has great joy. When he 
beginneth to hunt and he hath hunted but a little 
and he shall hear or see the hart start before 
him and shall well know that it is the right one, 
and his hounds that shall this day be finders, shall 

1 Trace the deer to its lair. 

2 See Appendix : Excrements. 



io THE MASTER OF GAME 

come to the lair (bed), or to the fues (track), and 
shall there be uncoupled without any be left 
coupled, and they shall all run well and hunt, 
then hath the hunter great joy and great pleasure. 
Afterwards he leapeth on horseback, if he be of 
that estate, and else on foot with great haste to 
follow his hounds. And in case peradventure 
the hounds shall have gone far from where he 
uncoupled, he seeketh some advantage to get 
in front of his hounds. And then shall he see 
the hart pass before him, and shall holloa and 
rout mightily, and he shall see which hound come 
in the van-chase, and in the middle, and which 
are parfitours, 1 according to the order in which 
they shall come. And when all the hounds have 
passed before him then shall he ride after them 
and shall rout and blow as loud as he may with 
great joy and great pleasure, and I assure you 
he thinketh of no other sin or of no other evil. 
And when the hart be overcome and shall be 
at bay he shall have pleasure. And after, when 
the hart is spayed 2 and dead, he undoeth him 
and maketh his curée and enquireth or rewardeth 
his hounds, and so he shall have great pleasure, 
and when he cometh home he cometh joyfully, 
for his lord hath given him to drink of his good 
wine at the curée, and when he has come home 

1 See Appendix : Relays. 

2 Despatched with a sword or knife. See Appendix : Spay. 



THE PROLOGUE n 

he shall doff his clothes and his shoes and his hose, 
and he shall wash his thighs and his legs, and per- 
adventure all his body. And in the meanwhile 
he shall order well his supper, with wortes (roots) 
and of the neck of the hart and of other good 
meats, and good wine or ale. And when he hath 
well eaten and drunk he shall be glad and well, 
and well at his ease. And then shall he take the 
air in the evening of the night, for the great heat 
that he hath had. And then he shall go and 
drink and lie in his bed in fair fresh clothes, 
and shall sleep well and steadfastly all the night 
without any evil thoughts of any sins, wherefore 
I say that hunters go into Paradise when they die, 
and live in this world more joyfully than any other 
men. Yet I will prove to you how hunters live 
longer than any other men, for as Hippocras 
the doctor telleth : " full repletion of meat slayeth 
more men than any sword or knife." They eat 
and drink less than any other men of this world, 
for in the morning at the assembly they eat a little, 
and if they eat well at supper, they will by the 
morning have corrected their nature, for then they 
have eaten but little, and their nature will not 
be prevented from doing her digestion, whereby 
no wicked humours or superfluities may be en- 
gendered. And always, when a man is sick, men 
diet him and give him to drink water made of 
sugar and tysane and of such things for two or 



12 THE MASTER OF GAME 

three days to put down evil humours and his 
superfluities, and also make him void (purge). 
But for a hunter one need not do so, for he may 
have no repletion on account of the little meat, 
and by the travail that he hath. And, supposing 
that which can not be, and that he were full of 
wicked humours, yet men know well that the best 
way to terminate sickness that can be is to sweat. 
And when the hunters do their office on horseback 
or on foot they sweat often, then if they have any 
evil in them, it must (come) away in the sweating ; 
so that he keep from cold after the heat. There- 
fore it seemeth to me I have proved enough. 
Leeches ordain for a sick man little meat and 
sweating for the terminating and healing of all 
things. And since hunters eat little and sweat 
always, they should live long and in health. 
Men desire in this world to live long in health 
and in joy, and after death the health of the soul. 
And hunters have all these things. Therefore 
be ye all hunters and ye shall do as wise men. 
Wherefore I counsel to all manner of folk of what 
estate or condition that they be, that they love 
hounds and hunting and the pleasure of hunting 
beasts of one kind or another, or hawking. For 
to be idle and to have no pleasure in either hounds 
or hawks is no good token. For as saith in his 
book Phœbus the Earl of Foix that noble hunter, he 
saw never a good man that had not pleasure in 



THE PROLOGUE 13 

some of these things, were he ever so great and 
rich. For if he had need to go to war he would 
not know what war is, for he would not be accus- 
tomed to travail, and so another man would have 
to do that which he should. For men say in old 
saws : " The lord is worth what his lands are 
worth." 1 And also he saith in the aforesaid book, 
that he never saw a man that loved the work and 
pleasure of hounds and hawks, that had not many 
good qualities in him ; for that comes to him of 
great nobleness and gentleness of heart of what- 
ever estate the man may be, whether he be a great 
lord, or a little one, or a poor man or a rich one. 

1 Gaston de Foix says : " Tant vaut seigneur tant vaut sa 
gent et sa terre," p. 9. 



CHAPTER II 

OF THE HARE AND OF HER NATURE 

The hare is a common beast enough, and there- 
fore I need not tell of her making, for there be 
few men that have not seen some of them. They 
live on corn, and on weeds growing on waste land, 
on leaves, on herbs, on the bark of trees, on 
grapes and on many other fruits. The hare is a 
good little beast, and much good sport and liking 
is the hunting of her, more than that of any other 
beast that any man knoweth, if he 1 were not so 
little. And that for five reasons : the one is, for 
her hunting lasteth all the year as with running 
hounds without any sparing, and this is not with 
all the other beasts. And also men may hunt at 
her both in the morning and in the evening. In 
the eventide, when they be relieved, 2 and in the 
morning, when they sit in form. And of all 

1 The hare was frequently spoken of in two genders in the 
same sentence, for it was an old belief that the hare was at 
one time male, and at another female. See Appendix : Hare. 

2 Means here : when the hare has arisen from her form to 
go to her feeding. Fr. relever. G. de F. explains, p. 42 : 
un lièvre se relieve pour aler à son vianders. Relief, which 
denoted the act of arising and going to feed, became afterwards 
the term for the feeding itself. "A hare hath greater scent 

14 



THE HARE AND HER NATURE 15 

other beasts it is not so, for if it rain in the 
morning your journey is lost, and of the hare it 
is not so. That other [reason] is to seek the 
hare ; it is a well fair thing, especially who so 
hunteth her rightfully, for hounds must need 
find her by mastery and quest point by point, 
and undo all that she hath done all the night 
of her walking, and of her pasture unto the time 
that they start her. And it is a fair thing when 
the hounds are good and can well find her. And 
the hare shall go sometimes from her sitting to 
her pasture half a mile or more, specially in open 
country. And when she is started it is a fair 
thing. And then it is a fair thing to slay her 
with strength of hounds, for she runneth long 
and gynnously (cunningly). A hare shall last well 
four miles or more or less, if she be an old male 
hare. And therefore the hunting of the hare is 
good, for it lasteth all the year, as I have said. 
And the seeking is a well fair thing, and the 
chasing of the hare is a well fair thing, and the 
slaying of him with strength (of hounds) is a fair 
thing, for it requireth great mastery on account 
of her cunning. When a hare ariseth out of her 
form to go to her pasture or return again to her 

and is more eagerly hunted when she relieves on green corn " 
{Comp. Sportsma?i, p. 86). It possibly was used later to 
denote the excrements of a hare ; thus Blome (1686) p. 92, 
says : " A huntsman may judge by the relief and feed of the 
hare what she is." 



1 6 THE MASTER OF GAME 

seat, she commonly goes by one way, and as she 
goes she will not suffer any twig or grass to touch 
her, for she will sooner break it with her teeth 
and make her way. Sometime she sitteth a mile 
or more from her pasturing, and sometimes near 
her pasture. But when she sitteth near it, yet 
she may have been the amount of half a mile 
or more from there where she hath pastured, and 
then she ruseth again from her pasture. And 
whether she go to sit near or far from her pas- 
ture she goes so gynnously (cunningly) and wilily 
that there is no man in this world that would 
say that any hound could unravel that which she 
has done, or that could find her. For she will 
go a bow shot or more by one way, and ruse 
again by another, and then she shall take her way 
by another side, and the same she shall do ten, 
twelve, or twenty times, from thence she will 
come into some hedge or strength (thicket), and 
shall make semblance to abide there, and then 
will make cross roads ten or twelve times, and 
will make her ruses, and thence she will take 
some false path, and shall go thence a great way, 
and such semblance she will make many times 
before she goeth to her seat. 

The hare cannot be judged, either by the foot 
or by her fumes (excrements), for she always 
crotieth 1 in one manner, except when she goeth 

1 Casting her excrements. 



THE HARE AND HER NATURE 17 

in her love that hunters call ryding time, for then 
she crotieth her fumes more burnt (drier) and 
smaller, especially the male. The hare liveth no 
long time, for with great pain may she pass the 
second 1 year, though she be not hunted or slain. 
She hath bad sight 2 and great fear to run 3 on 
account of the great dryness of her sinews. She 
windeth far men when they seek her. When 
hounds grede of her (seek) and quest her she 
flieth away for the fear that she hath of the 
hounds. Sometimes men find her sitting in her 
form, and sometimes she is bitten (taken) by 
hounds in her form before she starts. They 
that abide in the form till they be found are 
commonly stout hares, and well running. The 
hare that runneth with right standing ears is 
but little afraid, and is strong, and yet when she 
holdeth one ear upright and the other laid low 
on her ryge (back), she feareth but little the 
hounds. An hare that crumps her tail upon her 
rump when she starteth out of her form as a 

1 A mistake of the old scribes which occurs also in other 
MSS.; it should, of course, read " seventh " year. G. de F. has 
the correct version. 

2 G. de F. says : " She hears well but has bad sight," p. 43. 

3 "Fear to run" is a mistake occasioned by the similarity 
of the two old French words "pouair," power, and "paour" 
or fear. In those of the original French MS. of G. de F. 
examined by us it is certainly "power" and not "fear." 
Lavallée in his introduction says the same thing. See Ap- 
pendix : Hare. 

B 



1 8 THE MASTER OF GAME 

coney (does) it is a token that she is strong and 
well running. The hare runneth in many diverse 
manners, for some run all they are able a whole 
two miles or three, and after run and ruse again 
and then stop still when they can no more, and 
let themselves be bitten (by the hounds), although 
she may not have been seen all the day. And 
sometimes she letteth herself be bitten the first 
time that she starteth, for she has no more might 
(strength). And some run a ^little while and 
then abide and squat, and that they do oft. 
And then they take their flight as long as they 
can run ere they are dead. And some be that 
abide till they are bitten in their form, especially 
when they be young that have not passed half a 
year. Men know by the outer side of the hare's 
leg if she has not passed a year. 1 And so men 
should know of a hound, of a fox, and of a wolf, 
by a little bone that they have in a bone which is 
next the sinews, where there is a little pit (cavity). 
Sometimes when they are hunted with hounds 
they run into a hole as a coney, or into hollow 
trees, or else they pass a great river. Hounds 
do not follow some hares as well as others, for 
four reasons. Those hares who be begotten of 
the kind of a coney, as some be in warrens, the 
hounds lust not, nor scenteth them not so well. 
The other (is) that the fues (footing) of some 
1 See Appendix :|Hare, 



THE HARE AND HER NATURE 19 

hares carry hotter scent than some, and therefore 
the hounds scenteth of one more than of the 
other, as of roses, some smell better than others, 
and yet they be all roses. The other reason is 
that they steal away ere they be found, and the 
hounds follow always forth right. The others 
run going about and then abide, 1 wherefore the 
hounds be often on stynt (at fault). The other 
(reason) is according to the country they run in, 
for if they run in covert, hounds will scent them 
better than if they run in plain (open) country, 
or in the ways (paths), for in the covert their 
bodies touch against the twigs and leaves, because 
it is a strong (thick) country. And when they 
run in plain country or in the fields they touch 
nothing, but with the foot, and therefore the 
hound can not so well scent the fues of them. 
And also I say that some country is more sweet 
and more loving (to scent) than another. The 
hare abideth commonly in one country, and if 
she hath the fellowship of another or of her 
kyndels or leverettes, they be five or six, for 
no strange hare will they suffer to dwell in their 
marches (district), though they be of their nature 
(kind), 2 and therefore men say in old saws : " Who 

1 G. de F. has: "vonts riotans tournions et demourant,'' 
i.e. run rioting, turning and stopping, p. 44. 

2 Both the Vespasian and the Shirley MS. in the British 
Museum have the same, but G. de F., p. 45, has, " except those 
of their nature " {fors que celle de leur nature). 



2o THE MASTER OF GAME 

so hunteth the most hares shall find the most." 
For Phebus the Earl of Foix, that good hunter, 
saith that when there be few hares in a country 
they should be hunted and slain, so that the 
hares of other countries about should come into 
that march. 

Of hares, some go faster and be stronger than 
others, as it is of men and other beasts. Also the 
pasture and the country where they abide helpeth 
much thereto. For when the hare abideth and 
formeth in a plain country where there are no 
bushes, such hares are commonly strongest and 
well running. Also when they pasture on two 
herbs — that one is called Soepol (wild thyme) and 
that other be Pulegium (pennyroyal) they are 
strong and fast running. 

The hares have no season of their love for, as I 
said, it is called ryding time, for in every month 
of the year that it shall not be that some be not 
with kindles (young). Nevertheless, commonly 
their love is most in the month of January, and 
in that month they run most fast of any time of 
the year, both male and female. And from May 
unto September they be most slow, for then they 
be full of herbs and of fruits, or they be great 
and full of kindles, and commonly in that time 
they have their kindles. Hares remain in sundry 
(parts of the) country, according to the season of 
the year ; sometimes they sit in the fern, sometimes 



THE HARE AND HER NATURE 21 

in the heath, sometimes in the corn, and in grow- 
ing weeds, and sometimes in the woods. In April 
and in May when the corn is so long that they 
can hide themselves therein, gladly will they sit 
therein. And when men begin to reap the corn 
they will sit in the vines and in other strong (thick) 
heaths, in bushes and in hedges, and commonly in 
cover under the wind and in cover from the rain, 
and if there be any sun shining they will gladly 
sit against the beams of the sun. For a hare of 
its own kind knoweth the night before what 
weather it will be on the next morrow, and there- 
fore she keepeth herself the best way she may from 
the evil weather. The hare beareth her kindles 
two months, 1 and when they are kindled she 
licketh her kindles as a bitch doeth her whelps. 
Then she runneth a great way thence, and goeth 
to seek the male, for if she should abide with her 
kindles she would gladly eat them. And if she 
findeth not the male, she cometh again to her 
kindles a great while after and giveth them to suck, 
and nourisheth them for the maintainance of 20 
days or thereabouts. A hare beareth commonly 
2 kindles, but I have seen some which have kindled 
at once sometime 6, sometime 5 or 4 or 2 ; 2 and 
but she find the male within three days from the 

1 This is incorrect : the hare carries her young thirty days 
(Brehm, vol. ii. p. 626; Harting, Ency. of Sport, vol. i. 
p. 504). 

2 Should read "three" (G. de F., p. 47). 



22 THE MASTER OF GAME 

time she hath kindled, she will eat her kindles. 
And when they be in their love they go together 
as hounds, save they hold not together as hounds. 
They kindle often in small bushes or in little 
hedges, or they hide in heath or in briars or in 
corn or in vines. If you find a hare which has 
kindled the same day, and the hounds hunt after 
her, and if you come thither the next morrow ye 
shall find how she has removed her kindles, and 
has borne them elsewhere with her teeth, as a bitch 
doth her whelps. Men slay hares with grey- 
hounds, and with running hounds by strength, as 
in England, but elsewhere they slay them also with 
small pockets, and with purse nets, and with small 
nets, with. hare pipes, and with long nets, and with 
small cords that men cast where they make their 
breaking of the small twigs when they go to their 
pastures, as I have before said. 1 But, truly, I trow 
no good hunter would slay them so for any good. 
When they be in their heat of love and pass any 
place where conies be, the most part of them will 
follow after her as the hounds follow after a bitch 

or a brache. 

1 See Appendix : Snares. 




W si 



CHAPTER III 

OF THE HART AND HIS NATURE 

The hart is a common beast enough and therefore 
me needeth not to tell of his making, for there be 
few folk that have not seen some. The harts be 
the lightest (swiftest) beasts and strongest, and 
of marvellous great cunning. They are in their 
love, which men call rut, about the time of the 
Holy Rood 1 in September and remain in their 
hot love a whole month and ere they be fully out 
thereof they abide (in rut) nigh two months. 
And then they are bold, and run upon men as a 
wild boar would do if he were hunted. And they 
be wonderfully perilous beasts, for with great pain 
shall a man recover that is hurt by a hart, and 
therefore men say in old saws : " after the boar 
the leech and after the hart the bier." For he 
smiteth as the stroke of the springole, 2 for he has 
great strength in the head and the body. They 
slay, fight and hurt each other, when they be in 
rut, that is to say in their love, and they sing in 

1 September 14. See Appendix : Hart, Seasons. 

2 An engine of war used for throwing stones. 

23 



2 4 THE MASTER OF GAME 

their language that in England hunters call bellow- 
ing as man that loveth paramour. 1 They slay 
hounds and horses and men at that time and 
turn to the abbay (be at bay) as a boar does 
especially when they be weary. And yet have 
men seen at the parting of their ligging (as they 
start from the lair) 2 that he hath hurt him that 
followeth after, and also the greyhounds 3 and 
furthermore a courser. And yet when they are 
in rut, which is to say their love, in a forest 
where there be few hinds and many harts or male 
deer, they slay, hurt and fight with each other, 
for each would be master of the hinds. And 
commonly the greatest hart and the most strong 
holdeth the rut and is master thereof. And when 
he is well pured and hath been long at rut all 
the other harts that he hath chased and flemed 
away (put to flight) from the rut then run upon 
him and slay him, and that is sooth. And in 
parks this may be proved, for there is never a 
season but the greatest hart will be slain by the 
others not while he is at the rut, but when he 
has withdrawn and is poor of love. In the woods 
they do not so often slay each other as they do in 

1 G. de F., p. 12. "Ainsi que fet un homme bien amoureus " 
("As does a man much in love)." 

2 This word ligging is still in use in Yorkshire, meaning lair, 
or bed, or resting-place. In Devonshire it is spelt "layer." 
Fortescue, p. 132. 

3 G. de F., p. 12, has " limer" instead of "greyhound." 



THE HART AND HIS NATURE 25 

the plain country. And also there are divers 
ruts in the forest, but in the parks there are none 
but that are within the park. 1 After that they be 
withdrawn from the hinds they go in herds and 
in soppes (troops) with the rascal (young lean 
deer) and abide in (waste) lands and in heathes 
more than they do in woods, for to enjoy the 
heat of the sun, they be poor and lean for the 
travail they have had with the hinds, and for the 
winter, and the little meat that they find. After 
that they leave the rascal and gather together 
with two or three or four harts in soppes till the 
month of March when they mew (shed) their 
horns, and commonly some sooner than others, if 
they be old deer, and some later if they be young 
deer, or that they have had a hard winter, or that 
they have been hunted, or that they have been 
sick, for then they mew their heads and later 
come to good points. And when they have 
mewed their heads they take to the strong (thick) 
bushes as privily as they may, till their heads be 
grown again, and they come into grease ; after 
that they seek good country for meating (feeding) 

1 This passage is confused. In G. de F., p. 12, we find that 
the passage runs : " Et aussi il y a ruyt en divers lieux de la 
forest et on paix ne peut estre en nul lieu, fors que dedans 
le part." Lavallée translates these last five words, " C'est à 
dire qu'il n'y a de paix que lorsque les biches sont pleines." 
In the exceedingly faulty first edition by Verard, the word 
"part" is printed "pare" as it is in our MS. 



26 THE MASTER OF GAME 

of corn, of apples, of vines, of tender growing 
trees, of peas, of beans, and other fruits and 
grasses whereby they live. And sometimes a 
great hart hath another fellow that is called his 
squire, for he is with him and doth as he will. 
And so they will abide all that season if they be 
not hindered until the last end of August. And 
then they begin to look, and to think and to bolne 
and to bellow and to stir from the haunt in which 
they have (been) all the season, for to go seek 
the hinds. They recover their horns and are 
summed of their tines as many as they shall have 
all the year between March when they mewed 
them to the middle of June ; and then be they 
recovered of their new hair that men call polished 
and their horns be recovered with a soft hair that 
hunters call velvet at the beginning, and under 
that skin and that hair the horn waxes hard and 
sharp, and about Mary Magdalene day (July 22) 
they fray their horns against the trees, and have 
(rubbed) away that skin from their horns and then 
wax they hard and strong, and then they go to 
burnish and make them sharp in the colliers 
places (charcoal pits) that men make sometimes 
in the great groves. And if they can find none 
they go against the corners of rocks or to crabbe 
tree or to hawthorn or other trees. 1 

1 G. de F., p. 14, says the harts go to gravel-pits and bogs 
to fray. 



THE HART AND HIS NATURE 27 

They be half in grease or thereabouts by the 
middle of June when their head is summed, and 
they be highest in grease during all August. 
Commonly they be calved in May, and the hind 
beareth her calf nine months or thereabout as a 
sow, 1 and sometimes she has three 2 calves at a 
calving time. And I say not that they do not 
calve sometime sooner and sometime later, much 
according to causes and reasons. The calves are 
calved with hair red and white, which lasteth them 
that colour into the end of August, and then they 
turn red of hair, as the hart and the hind. And 
at that time they run so fast that a hare 3 should 
have enough to do to overtake him within the 
shot of an haronblast (cross-bow). Many men 
judge the deer of many colours of hair and 
especially of three colours. Some be called 
brown, some dun and some yellow haired. And 
also their heads be of divers manners, the one is 
called a head well-grown, and the other is called 
well affeted, 4 and well affeted is when the head 
has waxed by ordinance according to the neck and 



1 The MS. transcriber's mistake. It should be "cow." 

2 G. de F. has "2 calves" as it should be. 

3 G. de F. has "greyhound," as it should be (p. 15) : "Et 
dès lors vont ils jà si tost que un lévrier a assés à fere de 
l'ateindre, ainsi comme un trait d'arcbaleste " (" And from that 
time they go so quickly that a greyhound has as much to do 
to catch him as he would the bolt from a crossbow)." 

4 Well proportioned. See Appendix : Antler. 



28 THE MASTER OF GAME 

shape, when the tines be well grown in the beam 
by good measure, one near the other, then it is 
called well affeted. Well grown is when the 
head is of great beam and is well affeted and 
thick tined, well high and well opened (spread). 
That other head is called counterfeit (abnormal) 
when it is different and is otherwise turned behind 
or wayward in other manner than other common 
deer be accustomed to bear. That other high 
head is open, evil affeted. with long tines and 
few. That other is low and great and well 
affeted with small tines. And the first tine that 
is next the head is called antler, and the second 
Royal and the third above, the Sur-royal, and the 
tines 1 which be called fourth if they be two, and 
if they be three or four or more be called troching. 
And when their heads be burnished at the colliers' 
pits commonly they be always black, and also 
commonly when they be burnished at the colliers' 
pits they be black on account of the earth which 
is black of its kind. And when they are burnished 
against rock they abide all white, but some have 
their heads naturally white and some black. And 
when they be about to burnish they smite the 
ground with their feet and welter like a horse. 
And then they burnish their heads, and when 
they be burnished which they do all the month 
of July they abide in that manner till the feast of 
1 Shirley MS. has the addition here : "Which be on top." 



THE HART AND HIS NATURE 29 

the Holy (Cross) in September 14th and then 
they go to rut as I have said. 

And the first year that they be calved they be 
called a Calf, the second year a bullock ; and that 
year they go forth to rut ; the third year a brocket ; 
the fourth year a staggard, the fifth a stag ; the 
sixth year a hart of ten 1 and then first is he chase- 
able, for always before shall he be called but rascal 
or folly. Then it is fair to hunt the hart, for it 
is a fair thing to seek well a hart, and a fair thing 
well to harbour him, and a fair thing to move 
him, and a fair thing to hunt him, and a fair 
thing to retrieve him, and a fair thing to be at 
the abbay, whether it be on water or on land. A 
fair thing is the curée, 2 and a fair thing to undo 
him well, and for to raise the rights. And a well 
fair thing and good is the devision 3 and it be a 
good deer. In so much that considering all things 
I hold that it is the fairest hunting, that any man 
may hunt after. They crotey their fumes (cast 
their excrements) in divers manners according to 
the time and season and according to the pasture 
that they find, now black or dry either in flat 
forms or engleymed (glutinous) or pressed, and 
in many other divers manners the which I shall 
more plainly devise when I shall declare how the 
hunter shall judge, for sometimes they misjudge 

1 In modern sporting terms, a warrantable deer. 

2 See Appendix : Curée. 3 Should be : venison. 



30 THE MASTER OF GAME 

by the fumes and so they do by the foot. When 
they crotey their fumes flat and not thick, it is in 
April or in May, into the middle of June, when they 
have fed on tender corn, for yet their fumes be 
not formed, and also they have not recovered their 
grease. But yet have men seen sometimes a great 
deer and an old and high in grease, which about 
mid-season crotey their fumes black and dry. And 
therefore by this and many other things many 
men may be beguiled by deer, for some goeth 
better and are better running and fly better than 
some, as other beasts do, and some be more cun- 
ning and more wily than others, as it is with men, 
for some be wiser than others. And it cometh to 
them of the good kind of their father and mother, 
and of good getting (breeding) and of good nur- 
ture and from being born in good constellations, 
and in good signs of heaven, and that (is the 
case) with men and all other beasts. Men take 
them with hounds, with greyhounds and with 
nets and with cords, and with other harness, 1 
with pits and with shot 2 and with other gins 
(traps) and with strength, as I shall say here- 
after. But in England they are not slain ex ce ft 
with hounds or with shot or with strength of 
running hounds. 

An old deer is wonder wise and felle (cunning) 



Harness, appurtenances. See Appendix : Harness. 
Means from a cross-bow or long-bow. 



THE HART AND HIS NATURE 31 

for to save his life, and to keep his advantage 
when he is hunted and is uncoupled to, as the 
lymer moveth him or other hounds findeth him 
without lymers, and if he have a deer (with him) 
that be his fellow he leaveth him to the hounds, 
so that he may warrant (save) himself, and let the 
hounds enchase after that other deer. And he 
will abide still, and if he be alone and the hounds 
find him, he shall go about his haunt wilily and 
wisely and seek the change of other deer, for 
to make the hounds envoise, 1 and to look where 
he may abide. And if he cannot abide he taketh 
leave of his haunt and beginneth to fly there where 
he wots of other change and then when he has 
come thither he herdeth among them and some- 
times he goeth away with them. And then he 
maketh a ruse on some side, and there he stalleth 
or squatteth until the hounds be forth after the 
other (deer) the which be fresh, and thus he 
changeth so that he may abide. And if there be 
any wise hounds, the which can bodily enchase 
him from the change, and he seeth that all can 
not avail, then he beginneth to show his wiles and 
ruseth to and fro. And all this he doth so that 
the hounds should not rind his fues (tracks) in 
intent that he may be freed from them and that 
he may save himself. 

Sometimes he fleeth forth with the wind and 
1 Go off the scent. 



32 THE MASTER OF GAME 

that for three causes, for when he fleeth against 
the wind it runneth into his mouth and dryeth him 
and doth him great harm. Therefore he fleeth 
oft forth with the wind so that he may always 
hear the hounds come after him. And also that 
the hounds should not scent nor find him, for his 
tail is in the wind and not his nose. 1 Also, that 
when the hounds be nigh him he may wind them 
and hye him well from them. But nevertheless 
his nature is for the most fart to flee ever on the 
wind till he be nigh overcome, or at the last side- 
ways to the wind so that it be aye (ever) in his 
nostrils. And when he shall hear that they be far 
from him, he hieth him not too fast. And when 
he is weary, and hot, then he goeth to yield, and 
soileth to some great river. And some time he 
foils down in the water half a mile or more ere 
he comes to land on any side. And that he doeth 
for two reasons, the one is to make himself cold, 
and for to refresh himself of the great heat that 
he hath, the other is that the hounds and the 
hunter may not come after him nor see his fues 
in the water, as they do on the land. And if in 
the country (there) is no great river he goeth then 
to the little (one) and shall beat up the water or 

1 This should read as G. de F. has it (p. 20) : " Et aussi affin 
que les chiens ne puissent bien assentir de luy, quar ilz auront 
la Cueue au vent et non pas le nez" ("And also that the 
hounds shall not be able to wind him, as they will have their 
tails in the wind and not their noses "). 



THE HART AND HIS NATURE 33 

foil down the water as he liketh best for the main- 
tenance (extent) of a mile or more ere he come 
to land, and he shall keep himself from touching 
any of the brinks or branches but always (keep) 
in the middle of the water, so that the hounds 
should not scent of him. And all that doth he 
for two reasons before said. 

And when he can find no rivers then he draweth 
to great stanks 1 and meres or to great marshes. 
And he fleeth then mightily and far from the 
hounds, that is to say that he hath gone a great way 
from them, 2 then he will go into the stank, and 
will soil therein once or twice in all the stank 
and then he will come out again by the same 
way that he went in, and then he shall ruse again 
the same way that he came (the length of) a 
bow shot or more, and then he shall ruse out 
of the way, for to stall or squatt to rest him, 
and that he doeth for he knoweth well that the 
hounds shall come by the fues into the stank 
where he was. And when they should find that 
he has gone no further they will seek him no 
further, for they will well know that they have 
been there at other times. 

An hart liveth longest of any beast for he may 

1 Ponds, pools. See Appendix : Stankes. 

2 G. de F., p. 21 : "Et s'il fuit de fort longe aux chiens, 
c'est à dire que il les ait bien esloinhés." See Appendix : 
" Forlonge." 

C 



34 THE MASTER OF GAME 

well live an hundred years 1 and the older he is 
the fairer he is of body and of head, and more 
lecherous, but he is not so swift, nor so light, 
nor so mighty. And many men say, but I make 
no affirmation upon that, when he is right old he 
beateth a serpent with his foot till she be wrath, 
and then he eateth her and then goeth to drink, 
and then runneth hither and thither to the water 
till the venom be mingled together and make him 
cast all his evil humours that he had in his body, 
and maketh his flesh come all new. 2 The head of 
the hart beareth medicine against the hardness of 
the sinews and is good to take away all aches, espe- 
cially when these come from cold : and so is the 
marrow. They have a bone within the heart 
which hath great medicine, for it comforteth the 
heart, and helpeth for the cardiac, and many other 
things which were too long to write, the which 
bear medicine and be profitable in many diverse 
manners. The hart is more wise in two things 
than is any man or other beast, the one is in 
tasting of herbs, for he hath better taste and better 
savour and smelleth the good herbs and leaves 
and other pastures and meating the which be 
profitable to him, better than any man or beast. 
The other is that he hath more wit and malice 

1 Most old writers on the natural history of deer repeat this 
fable. See Appendix : Hart. 

2 See Appendix : Hart. 






THE HART AND HIS NATURE 35 

(cunning) to save himself than any other beast 
or man, for there is not such a good hunter in 
the world that can think of the great malice and 
gynnes (tricks or ruses) that a hart can do, and 
there is no such good hunter nor such good 
hounds, but that many times fail to slay the hart, 
and that is by his wit and his malice and by his 
gins. 

As of the hinds some be barren and some bear 
calves, of those that be barren their season begin- 
neth when the season of the hart faileth and 
lasteth till Lent. And they which bear calves, 
in the morning when she shall go to her lair she 
will not remain with her calf, but she will hold 
(keep) him and leave him a great way from her, 
and smiteth him with the foot and maketh him 
to lie down, and there the calf shall remain always 
while the hind goeth to feed. And then she 
shall call her calf in her language and he shall 
come to her. And that she doeth so that if she 
were hunted her calf might be saved and that he 
should not be found near her. The harts have 
more power to run well from the entry of May 
into St. John's tide 1 than any other time, for then 
they have put on new flesh and new hair and new 
heads, for the new herbs and the new coming out 
(shoots) of trees and of fruits and be not too 
heavy, for as yet they have not recovered their 
1 Nativity of St. John the Baptist, June 24. 



36 THE MASTER OF GAME 

grease, 1 neither within nor without, nor their 
heads, wherefore they be much lighter and swifter. 
But from St. John's into the month of August 
they wax always more heavy. Their skin is right 
good for to do many things with when it is well 
tawed and taken in good season. Harts that 
be in great hills, when it cometh to rut, some- 
times they come down into the great forests and 
heaths and to the launds (uncultivated country) 
and there they abide all the winter until the 
entering of April, and then they take to their 
haunts for to let their heads wax, near the towns 
and villages in the plains there where they find 
good feeding in the new growing lands. And 
when the grass is high and well waxen they with- 
draw into the greatest hills that they can find for 
the fair pastures and feeding and fair herbs that 
be thereupon. And also because there be no flies 
nor any other vermin, as there be in the plain 
country. And also so doth the cattle which 
come down from the hills in winter time, and 
in the summer time draw to the hills. And all 
the time from rutting time into Whitsunday 
great deer and old will be found in the plains, 
but from Whitsunday 2 to rutting time men shall 
find but few great deer save upon the hills, if there 

1 See Appendix : Grease. 

a This sentence reads somewhat confusedly in our MS., so 
I have taken this rendering straight from G. de F., p. 23. 



THE HART AND HIS NATURE 37 

are any (hills) near or within four or five miles, and 
this is truth unless it be some young deer calved 
in the plains, but of those that come from the 
hills there will be none. And every day in the 
heat of the day, and he be not hindered, from May 
to September, he goes to soil though he be not 
hunted. 



CHAPTER IV 

OF THE BUCK AND OF HIS NATURE 

A buck is a diverse beast, he hath not his hair 
as a hart, for he is more white, and also he hath 
not such a head. He is less than a hart and 
is larger than a roe. A buck's head is palmed 
with a long palming, and he beareth more tines 
than doth a hart. His head cannot be well de- 
scribed without painting. They have a longer 
tail than the hart, and more grease on their 
haunches than a hart. They are fawned in the 
month of June and shortly to say they have the 
nature of the hart, save only that the hart goeth 
sooner to rut and is sooner in his season again, 
also in all things of their kind the hart goeth 
before the buck. For when the hart hath been 
fifteen days at rut the buck scarcely beginneth to 
be in heat and bellow. 

And also men go not to sue him with a lymer, 
nor do men go to harbour him as men do to the 
hart. Nor are his fumes put in judgment as 
those of the hart, but men judge him by the foot 

other head as I shall say more plainly hereafter. 

38 



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9fuanr. 




V.V 



BUCK-HUNTING WITH RUNNING HOUNDS 
(From MS. f. fr. 616, j5/A AW., Paris) 



THE BUCK AND HIS NATURE 39 

They crotey their fumes in diverse manners 
according to the time and pasture, as doth the 
hart, but oftener black and dry than otherwise. 
When they are hunted they bound again into 
their coverts and fly not so long as doth the hart, 
for sometimes they run upon the hounds. 1 And 
they run long and fly ever if they can by the high 
ways and always with the change. They let 
themselves be taken at the water and beat the 
brooks as a hart, but not with such great malice 
as the hart, nor so gynnously (cunningly) and also 
they go not to such great rivers as the hart. 
They run faster at the beginning than doth the 
hart. They bolk (bellow) about when they go 
to rut, not as a hart doth, but much lower than 
the hart, and rattling in the throat. Their nature 
and that of the hart do not love (to be) together, 
for gladly would they not dwell there where many 
harts be, nor the harts there where the bucks be 
namely together in herds. The buck's flesh is 
more savoury 2 than is that of the hart or of the 
roebuck. The venison of them is right good if 
kept and salted as that of the hart. They abide 

1 They do not make such a long flight as the red deer but 
by ringing return to the hounds. 

2 G. de F., p. 29, completes the sense of this sentence by 
saying that "the flesh of the buck is more savoury to all 
hounds than that of the stag or of the roe, and for this reason 
it is a bad change to hunt the stag with hounds which at 
some other time have eaten buck." 



4 o THE MASTER OF GAME 

oft in a dry country and always commonly in 
herd with other bucks. Their season lasteth 
from the month of May into the middle of 
September. And commonly they dwell in a high 
country where there be valleys and small hills. 
He is undone as the hart. 



CHAPTER V 

OF THE ROE AND OF HIS NATURE 

The roebuck is a common beast enough, and 
therefore I need not to tell of his making, for 
there be few men that have not seen some of them. 
It is a good little beast and goodly for to hunt to 
whoso can do it as I shall devise hereafter, for 
there be few hunters that can well devise his 
nature. They go in their love that is called 
bokeyng in October, 1 and the bucking of them 
lasteth but fifteen days or there about. At the 
bucking of the roebuck he hath to do but with 
one female for all the season, and a male and a 
female abide together as the hinds 2 till the time 
that the female shall have her kids ; and then the 
female parteth from the male and goeth to kid 
her kids far from thence, for the male would 
slay the young if he could find them. And when 
they be big that they can eat by themselves of the 
herbs and of the leaves and can run away, then 

1 This is wrong ; they rut in the beginning of August. See 
Appendix : Roe. 

2 A clerical error. G. de F. (p. 36) says, "as do birds," 
which makes good sense. 



4 2 THE MASTER OF GAME 

the female cometh again to the male, and they 
shall ever be together unless they be slain, and if 
one hunt them and part them asunder one from 
another, they will come together again as soon as 
they can and will seek each other until the time 
that one of them have found the other. And the 
cause why the male and the female be evermore 
together as no other beast in this world, is that 
commonly the female hath two kids at once, 
one male and the other female, and because they 
are kidded together they hold evermore together. 
And yet if they were not kidded together of one 
female, yet is the nature of them such that they 
will always hold together as I have said before. 
When they withdraw from the bucking, they mew 
their heads, for men will find but few roebucks 
that have passed two years that have not mewed 
their heads by All Hallowtide. And after the 
heads come again rough as a hart's head, and 
commonly they burnish their horns in March. 
The roebuck hath no season to be hunted, for 
they bear no venison 1 but men should leave them 
the females for their kids that would be lost unto 
the time that they have kidded, and that the kids 
can feed themselves and live by themselves with- 
out their dame. It is good hunting for it lasteth 
all the year and they run well, and longer than 
does a great hart in high season time. Roebucks 

1 See Appendix : Grease. 



THE ROE AND HIS NATURE 43 

cannot be judged by their fumes, and but little by 
their track as one can of harts, for a man cannot 
know the male from the female by her feet or by 
her fumes. 

They have not a great tail and do not gather 
venison as I have said, the greatest grease that they 
may have within is when the kidneys be covered 
all white. When the hounds hunt after the roe- 
buck they turn again into their haunts and some- 
times turn again to the hounds. 1 When they see 
that they cannot dure 2 (last) they leave the country 
and run right long ere they be dead. And they 
run in and out a long time and beat the brooks in 
the same way a hart doth. And if the roebuck 
were as fair a beast as the hart, I hold that it 
were a fairer hunting than that of the hart, for 
it lasteth all the year and is good hunting and 
requires great mastery, for they run right long 
and gynnously (cunningly). Although they mew 
their heads they do not reburnish them, nor repair 
their hair till new grass time. It is a diverse 
(peculiar) beast, for it doth nothing after the 
nature of any other beast, and he followeth men 
into their houses, for when he is hunted and over- 
come he knoweth never where he goeth. The 
flesh of the roebuck is the most wholesome to eat 

1 "They ring about in their own country, and often bound 
back to the hounds" would be a better translation.. 

2 From the French durer, to last. 



44 THE MASTER OF GAME 

of any other wild beast's flesh, they live on good 
herbs and other woods and vines and on briars 
and hawthorns 1 with leaves and on all growth of 
young trees. When the female has her kids she 
does all in the manner as I have said of a hind. 
When they be in bucking they sing a right foul 
song, for it seemeth as if they were bitten by 
hounds. When they run at their ease they run 
ever with leaps, but when they be weary or followed 
by hounds they run naturally and sometimes they 
trot or go apace, and sometimes they hasten and 
do not leap, and then men say that the roebuck 
hath lost his leaps, and they say amiss, for he ever 
leaves off leaping when he is well hasted and also 
when he is weary. 

When he runneth at the beginning, as I have 
said, he runneth with leaps and with rugged 
standing hair and the ères 2 (target) and the tail 
cropping up all white. 

And when he hath run long his hair lyeth sleek 
down, not standing nor rugged and his eres 
(target) does not show so white. 

And when he can run no longer he cometh and 
yieldeth himself to some small brook, and when 
he hath long beaten the brook upward or down- 
ward he remaineth in the water under some roots 
so that there is nothing out of water save his head. 



1 G. de F. says " acorns." 

* Middle English ars^ hinder parts called 



target of roebuck. 



THE ROE AND HIS NATURE 45 

And sometimes the hounds and the hunters shall 
pass above him and beside him and he will not stir. 
For although he be a foolish beast he has many 
ruses and treasons to help himself. He runneth 
wondrous fast, for when he starts from his lair he 
will go faster than a brace of good greyhounds. 
They haunt thick coverts of wood, or thick heathes, 
and sometimes in carres (marshes) and commonly 
in high countries or in hills and valleys and some- 
times in the plains. 

The kids are kidded with pomeled 1 (spotted) 
hair as are the hind calves. And as a hind's calf 
of the first year beginneth to put out his head, in 
the same wise does he put out his small brokes 2 
(spikes) ere he be a twelvemonth old. He is 
hardeled 3 but not undone as a hart, for he has no 
venison that men should lay in salt. And some- 
times he is given all to the hounds, and sometimes 
only a part. They go to their feeding as other 
beasts do, in the morning and in the evening, and 
then they go to their lair. The roebuck remains 
commonly in the same country both winter and 
summer if he be not grieved or hunted out 

thereof. 

1 From the old French fiomelé. 

2 See Appendix : Roe. 

3 See Appendix : Hardel. 



CHAPTER VI 

OF THE WILD BOAR AND OF HIS NATURE 

A wild boar is a common beast enough and there- 
fore it needeth not to tell of his making, for there 
be few gentlemen that have not seen some of them. 
It is the beast of this world that is strongest armed, 
and can sooner slay a man than any other. Neither 
is there any beast that he could not slay if they 
were alone sooner than that other beast could slay 
him, 1 be they lion or leopard, unless they should 
leap upon his back, so that he could not turn on 
them with his teeth. And there is neither lion 
nor leopard that slayeth a man at one stroke as 
a boar doth, for they mostly kill with the raising 
of their claws and through biting, but the wild 
boar slayeth a man with one stroke as with a knife, 
and therefore he can slay any other beast sooner 
than they could slay him. It is a proud 2 beast 

1 In spite of the boar being such a dangerous animal a 
wound from his tusk was not considered so fatal as one from 
the antlers of a stag. An old fourteenth-century saying was : 
" Pour le sanglier faut le mire, mais pour le cerf convient la 
bière." 

2 Proud. G. de F., p. 56, orguilleuse. G. de F., p. 57, says 

after this that he has often himself been thrown to the ground, 

46 



WILD BOAR AND HIS NATURE 47 

and fierce and perilous, for many times have men 
seen much harm that he hath done. For some 
men have seen him slit a man from knee up to the 
breast and slay him all stark dead at one stroke 
so that he never spake thereafter. 

They go in their love to the brimming 1 as sows 
do about the feast of St. Andrew, 2 and are in 
their brimming love three weeks, and when the 
sows are cool the boar does not leave them. 3 

He stays with them till the twelfth day after 
Christmas, and then the boar leaves the sows and 
goeth to take his covert, and to seek his liveli- 
hood alone, and thus he stays until the next year 
when he goeth again to the sows. They abide 
not in one place one night as they do in another, 
but they find their pasture for (till) all pastures 
fail them as hawthorns 4 and other things. Some- 
times a great boar has another with him but this 
happens but seldom. They farrow 5 in March, 
and once in the year they go in their love. And 

he with his courser, by a wild boar and the courser killed (" et 
moy meismes a il porté moult de fois à terre moy et mon 
coursier, et mort le coursier "). 

1 Brimming. From Middle English ôrz'me, burning heat. 
It was also used in the sense of valiant-spirited (Stratmann). 

2 November 30. 

3 G. de F., p. 57, adds : " comme fait l'ours." 

* A badly worded phrase, the meaning of which is not quite 
clear. G. de F. has "acorns and beachmast" instead of 
hawthorns. 

5 Farrow. See Appendix : Wild Boar. 



4 8 THE MASTER OF GAME 

there are few wild sows that farrow more than 
once in the year, nevertheless men have seen them 
farrow twice in the year. 

Sometimes they go far to their feeding between 
night and day, and return to their covert and den 
ere it be day. But if the day overtakes them 
on the way ere they can get to their covert they 
will abide in some little thicket all that day until 
it be night. They wind a man 1 as far as any 
other beast or farther. They live on herbs and 
flowers especially in May, which maketh them 
renew 2 their hair and their flesh. And some 
good hunters of beyond the sea say that in that time 
they bear medicine on account of the good herbs 
and the good flowers that they eat, but thereupon 
I make no affirmation. They eat all manner of 
fruits and all manner of corn, and when these fail 
them they root 3 in the ground with the rowel of 
their snouts which is right hard ; they root deep 
in the ground till they find the roots of the ferns 
and of the spurge and other roots of which they 
have the savour (scent) in the earth. And there- 
fore have I said they wind wonderfully far and 
marvellously well. And also they eat all the 
vermin and carrion and other foul things. They 

1 G. de F., p. 58, says they wind acorns as well or better 
than a bear, but nothing about winding a man. See Appendix : 
Wild Boar. 

2 From F. renouveler. 3 See Appendix : Wild Boar. 



WILD BOAR AND HIS NATURE 49 

have a hard skin and strong flesh, especially upon 
their shoulders which is called the shield. Their 
season begins from the Holy Cross day in Sep- 
tember 1 to the feast of St. Andrew 2 for then they 
go to the brimming of the sows. For they are 
in grease when they be withdrawn from the sows. 
The sows are in season from the brimming time 
which is to say the tzvelfth day after Christmas till 
the time when they have farrowed. The boars 
turn commonly to bay on leaving their dens for 
the pride that is in them, and they run upon some 
hounds and at men also. But when the boar is 
heated, or wrathful, or hurt, then he runneth upon 
all things that he sees before him. He dwelleth 
in the strong wood and the thickest that he can 
find and generally runneth in the most covered 
and thickest way so that he may not be seen as he 
trusteth not much in his running, but only in his 
defence and in his desperate deeds. 3 He often 
stops and turns to bay, and especially when he is at 
the brimming and hath a little advantage before 
the hounds of the first running, and these will 
never overtake him unless other new hounds be 
uncoupled to him. 

He will well run and fly from the sun rising to 
the going down of the sun, if he be a young boar 

1 September 14. 2 November 30. 

3 Despiteful or furious deeds. G. de F., p. 60, says that he 
only trusts in his defences and his weapons ("en sa défense 
et en ses armes "). 

D 



5o THE MASTER OF GAME 

of three years old. In the third March counting 
that in which he was farrowed, he parteth from his 
mother and may well engender at the year's end. 1 

They have four tusks, two in the jaw above and 
two in the nether jaw ; of small teeth speak not 
I, the which are like other boar's teeth. The two 
tusks above serve for nothing except to sharpen 
his two nether tusks and make them cut well and 
men beyond the sea call the nether tusks of the 
boar his arms or his files, with these they do great 
harm, and also they call the tusks above gres 2 
(grinders) for they only serve to make the others 
sharp as I have said, and when they are at bay they 
keep smiting their tusks together to make them 
sharp and cut better. When men hunt the boar 
they commonly go to soil and soil in the dirt and if 
they be hurt the soil is their medicine. The boar 
that is in his third year or a little more is more 
perilous and more swift and doth more harm than 
an old boar, as a young man more than an old 
man. An old boar will be sooner dead than a 
young one for he is proud and heavier and deigneth 
not to fly, and sooner he will run upon a man than 
fly, and smiteth great strokes but not so perilously 
as a young boar. 

A boar heareth wonderfully well and clearly, 

1 As this is somewhat confused we have followed G. de F.'s 
text in the modern rendering. 

2 From the French grès, grinding-stone or grinders. 



WILD BOAR AND HIS NATURE 51 

and when he is hunted and cometh out of the 
forest or bush or when he is so hunted that he is 
compelled to leave the country, he sorely dreads 
to take to the open country and to leave the 
forest, 1 and therefore he puts his head out of the 
wood before he puts out his body, then he abideth 
there and harkeneth and looketh about and taketh 
the wind on every side. And if that time he 
seeth anything that he thinks might hinder him 
in the way he would go, then he turneth again 
into the wood. Then will he never more come 
out though all the horns and all the holloaing of 
the world were there. But when he has under- 
taken the way to go out he will spare for nothing 
but will hold his way throughout. When he 
fleeth he maketh but few turnings, but when he 
turneth to bay, and then he runneth upon the 
hounds and upon the man. And for no stroke 
or wound that men do him will he complain or 
cry, but when he runneth upon the men he 
menaceth, strongly groaning. But while he can 
defend himself he defendeth himself without 
complaint, and when he can no longer defend 
himself there be few boars that will not complain 
or cry out when they are overcome to the death. 2 

1 G. de F., p. 60, has " fortress" instead of "forest." 

2 After the word " death " a full stop should occur, for in this 
MS. and, singularly enough, also in the Shirley MS. the follow- 
ing words have been omitted : " They drop their lesses," 
continuing f 'as other swine do." 



S 2 THE MASTER OF GAME 

They drop their lesses (excrements) as other 
swine do, according to their pasture being hard 
or soft. 

But men do not take them to the curée nor 
are they judged as of the hart or other beasts of 
venery. 

A boar can with great pain live twenty years ; 
he never casts his teeth nor his tusks nor loses 
them unless by a stroke. 1 The boar's grease is 
good as that of other tame swine, and their flesh 
also. Some men say that by the foreleg of a boar 
one can know how old he is, for he will have as 
many small pits in the forelegs as he has years, 
but of this I make no affirmation. The sows lead 
about their pigs with them till they have farrowed 
twice and no longer, and then they chase their 
first pigs away from them for by that time they 
be two years old and three Marches counting the 
March in which they were farrowed. 2 In short 
they are like tame sows, excepting that they farrow 
but once in a year and the tame sows farrow twice. 
When they be wroth they run at both men and 
hounds and other beasts as (does) the wild boar 
and if they cast down a man they abide longer 
upon him than doeth a boar, but she cannot slay 



1 At this point G. de F., p. 61, adds : " One says of all biting 
beasts the trace, and of red beasts foot or view, and one can 
call both one or the other the paths or the fues." 

2 See Appendix : Wild Boar. 



WILD BOAR AND HIS NATURE s 3 

a man as soon as a boar for she has not such tusks 
as the boar, but sometimes they do much harm 
by biting. Boars and sows go to soil gladly when 
they go to their pasture, all day and when they 
return they sharpen their tusks and cut against 
trees when they rub themselves on coming from 
the soil. What men call a trip of tame swine is 
called of wild swine a sounder, that is to say if 
there be passed a five or six together. 



CHAPTER VII 

OF THE WOLF AND OF HIS NATURE 

A wolf is a common beast enough and there- 
fore I need not tell of his make, for there are 
few men beyond the sea, that have not seen some 
of them. They are in their love in February 
with the females and then be jolly and do in the 
manner as hounds do, and be in their great heat 
of love ten or twelve days, and when the bitch 
is in greatest heat then if there are any wolves 
in the country they all go after her as hounds 
do after a bitch when she is jolly. But she will 
not be lined by any of the wolves save by one. 
She doth in such a wise that she will lead the 
wolves for about six or eight days without meat 
or drink and without sleep for they have so great 
courage towards her, that they have no wish to 
eat nor to drink, and when they be full weary 
she lets them rest until the time that they sleep, 
and then she claweth him with her foot and 
waketh him that seemeth to have loved her most, 
and who hath most laboured for her love, and 
then they go a great way thence and there he 
lines her. And therefore men say beyond the seas 



THE WOLF AND HIS NATURE 55 

in some countries when any woman doth amiss, 
that she is like to the wolf bitch for she taketh 
to her the worst and the foulest and the most 
wretched and it is truth that the bitch of the 
wolf taketh to her the foulest and most wretched, 
for he hath most laboured and fasted 1 for her 
and is most poor, most lean and most wretched. 
And this is the cause why men say that the wolf 
saw never his father and it is truth sometimes 
but not always, for it happeneth that when she 
has brought the wolf that she loveth most as I 
have said, and when the other wolves awaken 
they follow anon in her track, and if they can 
find the wolf and the bitch holding together then 
will all the other wolves run upon him and slay 
him, and all this is truth in this case. But when 
in all the country there is but one wolf and one 
bitch of his kind then this rule cannot be truth. 

And sometimes peradventure the other wolves 
may be awake so late that if the wolf is not fast 
with the bitch or peradventure he hath left her 
then he fleeth away from the other wolves, so 
they slay him not so in this case the first opinion 
is not true. 

They may get young whelps at the year's end, 
and then they leave their father and their mother. 
And sometimes before they are twelve months 

1 G. de F., p. 63, has : " Pource qu'il a plus travaillé et plus 
jeune que n'ont les autres." 



S 6 THE MASTER OF GAME 

old if so be that their teeth are fully grown after 
their other small teeth which they had first, for 
they teethe twice in the year when they are whelps. 
The first teeth they cast when they are half a 
year old and also their hooks. Then other teeth 
come to them which they bear all their life-time 
and never cast. When these are full grown again 
then they leave their father and mother and go on 
their adventures, but notwithstanding that they 
go far they do not bide long away from each 
other and if it happens that they meet with their 
father and with their mother the which hath 
nourished them they will make them joy and 
great reverence alway. And also I would have 
you know that when a bitch and a wolf of her 
kind hath fellowship together they generally stay 
evermore together, and though they sometimes 
go to seek their feeding the one far from the 
other they will be together at night if they can 
or at the farthest at the end of three days. And 
such wolves in fellowship together get meat for 
their whelps the father as well as the mother, 
save only that the wolf eateth first his fill and 
then bears the remnant to his whelps. The bitch 
does not do so for she beareth all her meat to her 
whelps and eateth with them. And if the wolf 
is with the whelps when the mother cometh and 
she bringeth anything and the wolf has not 
enough he taketh the feeding from her and her 



THE WOLF AND HIS NATURE 57 

whelps, and eateth his fill first, and then he 
leaveth them the remnant, if there be any, and if 
there be not any left they die of hunger, if they 
will, for he recketh but little so that his belly be 
full. And when the mother seeth that, and has 
been far to seek her meat she leaveth her meat 
a great way thence for her whelps, and then she 
cometh to see if the wolf is with them, and if he 
be there she stayeth till he be gone and then she 
bringeth them her meat. But also the wolf is 
so malicious that when he seeth her come without 
food he goeth and windeth her muzzle and if he 
windeth she hath brought anything he taketh her 
by the teeth and biteth her so that she must 
show him where she hath left her food. And 
when the bitch perceiveth that the wolf doth 
this when she returneth to her whelps she keepeth 
in the covert and doth not show herself if she 
perceiveth that the wolf is with them, and if he 
be there she hideth herself until the time he hath 
gone to his prey on account of his great hunger, 
and when he is gone she brings her whelps her 
food for to eat. And this is truth. 

Some men say that she bathes her body and her 
head so that the wolf should wind nothing of her 
feeding when she cometh to them, but of this I 
make no affirmation. 

There be other heavy wolves of this nature, the 
which be not so in fellowship, they do not help 



58 THE MASTER OF GAME 

the bitch to nourish the whelps but when a wolf 
and a bitch are in fellowship and there are no 
wolves in that country by very natural smelling he 
knoweth well that the whelps are his and there- 
fore he helpeth to nourish them but not well. At 
the time that she hath whelps the wolf is fattest 
in all the year, for he eateth and taketh all that 
the bitch and whelps should eat. The bitch 
beareth her whelps nine weeks and sometimes 
three or four days more. Once in the year they 
are in their love and are jolly. Some men say 
that the bitches bear no whelps while their 
mother liveth, but thereof I make no affirmation. 
The bitches of them have their whelps as other 
tame bitches, sometimes more, sometimes less. 
They have great strength especially before (fore- 
quarters), and evil 1 they be and strong, for some- 
times a wolf will slay a cow or a mare and he 
hath great strength in his mouth. Sometime he 
will bear in his mouth a goat or a sheep or a 
young hog and not touch the ground (with it), 
and shall run so fast with it that unless mastiffs 
or men on horseback happen to run before him 
neither the shepherds nor no other man on foot 
will ever overtake him. They live on all manner 
of flesh and on all carrion and all kinds of vermin. 
And they live not long for they live not more 
than thirteen or fourteen years. Their biting is 
1 G. de F., p. 66, has "evil biting." 



THE WOLF AND HIS NATURE 59 

evil and venomous on account of the toads and 
other vermin that they eat. They go so fast 
when they be void (are empty) that men have let 
run four leashes of greyhounds, one after the 
other and they could not overtake him, for he 
runs as fast as any beast in the world, and he lasts 
long running, for he has a long breath. When 
he is long hunted with running hounds he fleeth 
but little from them, but if the greyhounds or 
other hounds press him, he fleeth all the covert 1 
as a boar does and commonly he runs by the high 
ways. And commonly he goeth to get his liveli- 
hood by night, but sometimes by day, when he 
is sore ahungered. And there be some (wolves) 
that hunt at the hart, at the wild boar and at the 
roebuck, and windeth as far as a mastiff, and 
taketh hounds when they can. There are some 
that eat children and men and eat no other flesh 
from the time that they be acherned 2 (blooded) 
by men's flesh, for they would rather be dead. 
They are called wer-wolves, for men should be- 
ware of them, and they be so cautious that when 
they assail a man they have a holding upon him 
before the man can see them, and yet if men see 
them they will come upon them so gynnously 
(cunningly) that with great difficulty a man will 
escape being taken and slain, for they can wonder 

1 He keeps to the coverts. 

2 Acherned, from O. Fr. acharné, to blood, from chair, flesh. 



6o THE MASTER OF GAME 

well keep from any harness (arms) that a man 
beareth. There are two principal causes why 
they attack men ; one is when they are old and 
lose their teeth and their strength, and cannot 
carry their prey as they were wont to do, then 
they mostly go for children, which are not diffi- 
cult to take for they need not carry them about 
but only eat them. And the child's flesh is more 
tender than is the skin or flesh of a beast. The 
other reason is that when they have been acharned 
(blooded) in a country of war, where battles have 
been, they eat dead men. Or if men have been 
hanged or have been hanged so low that they 
may reach thereto, or when they fall from the 
gallows. And man's flesh is so savoury and so 
pleasant that when they have taken to man's flesh 
they will never eat the flesh of other beasts, 
though they should die of hunger. For many 
men have seen them leave the sheep they have 
taken and eat the shepherd. It is a wonderfully 
wily and gynnous (cunning) beast, and more false 
than any other beast to take all advantage, for 
he will never fly but a little save when he has 
need, for he will always abide in his strength 
(stronghold), and he hath good breath, for every 
day it is needful to him, for every man that seeth 
him chaseth him away and crieth after him. 
When he is hunted he will fly all day unless he is 
overset by greyhounds. He will gladly go to 



THE WOLF AND HIS NATURE 61 

some village or in a brook, he will be little at bay 
except when he can go no further. Sometimes 
wolves go mad and when they bite a man he will 
scarcely get well, for their biting is wonderfully 
venomous on account of the toads they have 
eaten as I have said before, and also on account of 
their madness. And when they are full or sick 
they feed on grasses as a hound does in order to 
purge themselves. They stay long without meat 
for a wolf can well remain without meat six days 
or more. And when the wolfs bitch has her 
whelps commonly she will do no harm near 
where she has them, for fear she hath to lose 
them. And if a wolf come to a fold of sheep 
if he may abide any while he will slay them all 
before he begins to eat any of them. Men take 
them beyond the sea with hounds and greyhounds 
with nets and with cords, but when he is taken 
in nets or cords he cutteth them wonderfully fast 
with his teeth unless men get quickly to him to 
slay him. Also men take them within pits and 
with needles * and with haussepieds 2 or with veno- 
mous powders that men give them in flesh, and 
in many other manners. When the cattle come 
down from the hills the wolves come down also 
to get their livelihood. They follow commonly 

1 Needles. See Appendix : Snares. 

2 Aucepis (Shirley MS.). G. de F., p. 69: haussepicz, a 
snare by which they were jerked from the ground by a noose. 



62 THE MASTER OF GAME 

after men of arms for the carrion of the beasts 
or dead horses or other things. They howl like 
hounds and if there be but two they will make 
such a noise as if there were a route of seven or 
eight if it is by night, when the weather is clear 
and bright, or when there are young wolves that 
have not yet passed their first year. When men 
lay trains to acharne (with flesh) so as to take 
them, they will rarely come again to the place 
where men have put the flesh, especially old 
wolves, leastways not the first time that they 
should eat. But if they have eaten two or three 
times, and they are assured that no one will do 
them harm, then sometimes they will abide. But 
some wolves be so malicious that they will eat in 
the night and in the day they will go a great way 
thence, two miles or more, especially if they have 
been aggrieved in that place, or if they feel that 
men have made any train with flesh for to hunt 
at them. They do not complain (cry out) when 
men slay them as hounds do, otherwise they be 
most like them. When men let run greyhounds 
at a wolf he turns to look at them, and when he 
seeth them he knoweth which will take him, and 
then he hasteneth to go while he can, and if they 
be greyhounds which dare not take him, the wolf 
knows at once, and then he will not hasten at his 
first going. And if men let run at him from the 
side, or before more greyhounds which will seize 



THE WOLF AND HIS NATURE 63 

him, when the wolf seeth them, and he be full, 
he voideth both before and behind all in his 
running so as to be more light and more swift. 
Men cannot nurture a wolf, though he be taken 
ever so young and chastised and beaten and held 
under discipline, for he will always do harm, if he 
hath time and place for to do it, he will never be 
so tame, but that when men leave him out he 
will look hither and thither to see if he may do 
any harm, or he looks to see if any man will do 
him any harm. For he knoweth well and woteth 
well that he doth evil, and therefore men ascrieth 
(cry at) and hunteth and slayeth him. And yet 
for all that he may not leave his evil nature. 

Men say that the right fore foot of the wolf is 
good for medicine for the evil of the breast and 
for the botches (sores) which come to swine under 
the shoulder. 1 And also the liver of the wolf 
dried is good for a man's liver, but thereof I 
make no affirmation, for I would put in my book 
nothing but very truth. The wolfs skin is warm 
to make cuffs or pilches (pelisses), but the fur 
thereof is not fair, and also it stinketh ever unless 
it be well tawed. 2 

1 This should be "jaw." G. de F., p. 70, has maisselles, i.e. 
Mâchoires. 

2 Prepared. Tawing is a process of making hides into leather 
— somewhat different from tanning. There were tawers and 
tanners. 



CHAPTER VIII 

OF THE FOX AND OF HIS NATURE 

The fox is a common beast and therefore I need 
not tell of his making and there be but few gentle- 
men that have not seen some. He hath many 
such conditions as the wolf, for the vixen of the 
fox bears as long as the bitch of the wolf bears 
her whelps, sometimes more sometimes less, save 
that the vixen fox whelpeth under the earth 
deeper than doth the bitch of the wolf. The 
vixen of the fox is a saute 1 (in heat) once in the 
year. She has a venomous biting like a wolf and 
their life is no longer than a wolf's life. With 
great trouble men can take a fox, especially the 
vixen when she is with whelps, for when she is 
with whelps and is heavy, she always keeps near 
her hole, for sometimes she whelpeth in a false hole 
and sometimes in great burrows and sometimes in 
hollow trees , and therefore she draweth always near 
her burrow, and if she hears anything anon she 
goeth therein before the hounds can get to her. 
She is a false beast and as malicious as a wolf. 

1 The term used by Turbervile (p. 188) is "goeth a 

clicqueting." 

6 4 



THE FOX AND HIS NATURE 65 

The hunting for a fox is fair for the good cry of 
the hounds * that follow him so nigh and with so 
good a will. Always they scent of him, for he 
flies through the thick wood and also he stinketh 
evermore. And he will scarcely leave a covert 
when he is therein, he taketh not to the plain 
(open) country for he trusteth not in his running 
neither in his defence, for he is too feeble, and if 
he does, it is because he is (forced to) by the 
strength of men and hounds. And he will always 
hold to covert, and if he can only find a briar to 
cover himself with, he will cover himself with 
that. When he sees that he cannot last, then he 
goeth to earth the nearest he can find which he 
knoweth well and then men may dig him out and 
take him, if it is easy digging, but not among the 
rocks. 2 If greyhounds give him many touches and 

1 G. de F., p. 72, says, " because the hounds hunt him closely." 

2 Our MS. only gives this one chapter on the fox, while 
Gaston Phcebus has another: Comment on doit chassier et 
prendre le renard. In this he gives directions as to earth- 
stopping, and taking him in pursenets, and smoking him out 
with "orpiment and sulphur and nitre or saltpetre." He says 
January, February, and March are the best months for hunt- 
ing, as the leaf is off the trees and the coverts are clearer, so 
that the hounds have more chance of seeing the fox and hunt 
him closer. He says that one-third of the hounds should be 
put in to draw the covert, and the others in relays should guard 
the boundaries and paths, to be slipped as required. Although 
this is a Frenchman's account of fox-hunting, we have no reason 
to believe that the fox was treated at that period better by 
English sportsmen, for until comparatively recent times the 
fox was accounted vermin, and any means by which his death 

E 



66 THE MASTER OF GAME 

overset him, his last remedy, if he is in an open 
country, will be that he vishiteth gladly (the act 
of voiding excrements) so that the greyhounds 
should leave him for the stink of the dirt, and 
also for the fear that he hath. 

A little greyhound is very hardy when (if) he 
takes a fox by himself, for men have seen great 
greyhounds which might well take a hart and a 
wild boar and a wolf and would let the fox go. 
And when the vixen is assaute, and goeth in her 
love to seek the dog fox she crieth with a hoarse 
voice as a mad hound doth, and also when she 
calleth her whelps when she misses any of them, 
she calleth in the same way. The fox does not 
complain (cry) when men slay him, but he defend- 
eth himself with all his power while he is alive. 
He liveth on all vermin and all carrion and on 
foul worms. His best meat that he most loveth 
are hens, capons, duck and young geese and other 
wild fowls when he can get them, also butterflies 
and grasshoppers, milk and butter. They do 
great harm in warrens of coneys and of hares which 

could be encompassed were considered legitimate, his exter- 
mination being the chief object in hunting him, and not the 
sport. Even as late as the seventeenth century we find that 
such treatment was considered justifiable towards a fox, for, 
as Macaulay tells us, Oliver St. John told the Long Parliament 
that Strafford was to be regarded, not as a stag or a hare, to 
whom some law was to be given, but as a fox, who was to be 
snared by any means, and knocked on the head without pity 
(vol. i. p. 149). 



THE FOX AND HIS NATURE 67 

they eat, and take them so gynnously (cunningly) 
and with great malice and not by running. There 
be some that hunt as a wolf 1 and some that go 
nowhere but to villages to seek the prey for their 
feeding. As I have said they are so cunning and 
subtle that neither men nor hounds can find a 
remedy to keep themselves from their false turns. 
Also foxes commonly dwell in great hedges or in 
great coverts or in burrows near some towns or 
villages for to evermore harm hens and other 
things as I have said. The foxes' skins be won- 
derfully warm to make cuffs and furs, but they 
stink evermore if they are not well tawed. The 
grease of the fox and the marrow are good for 
the hardening of sinews. Of the other manners 
of the fox and of his cunning I will speak more 
openly hereafter. Men take them with hounds, 
with greyhounds, with hayes and with purse-nets, 
but he cutteth them with his teeth, as the male 
of the wolf doth but not so soon (quickly). 

1 According to G. de F., p. 74, it should not read that some 
are hunted like wolves, but that they themselves hunt like 
wolves. 



CHAPTER IX 

OF THE GREY (BADGER) AND OF HIS NATURE 

The grey (badger) is a common beast enough 
and therefore I need not tell you of his making, 
for there be few men that have not seen some of 
them, and also I shall take no heed to speak much 
of him, for it is not a beast that needeth any 
great mastery to devise of how to hunt him, or 
to hunt him with strength, for a grey can fly but 
a little way before he is overcome with hounds, 
or else he goes to bay and then he is slain anon. 
His usual dwelling is in the earth in great burrows 
and if he comes out he will not walk far thence. 
He liveth on all vermin and carrion and all fruits 
and on all things such as the fox. But he dare 
not venture so far by day as the fox, for he cannot 
flee. He liveth more by sleeping than by any 
other thing. Once in the year they farrow as the 
fox. 1 When they be hunted they defend them- 
selves long and mightily and have evil biting and 
venomous as the fox, and yet they defend them- 
selves better than the fox. It is the beast of the 

1 G. de F., p. 76, adds : "And they farrow their pigs in their 
burrows as does the fox." 

68 



GREY (BADGER) AND HIS NATURE 69 

world that gathereth most grease within and that 
is because of the long sleeping that he sleepeth. 
And his grease bears medicine as does that of the 
fox, and yet more, and men say that if a child 
that hath never worn shoes is first shod with those 
made of the skin of the grey that child will heal 
a horse of farcy if he should ride upon him, but 
thereof I make no affirmation. His flesh is not 
to eat, neither is that of the fox nor of the wolf. 



CHAPTER X 

OF THE (WILD) CAT AND ITS NATURE 

The cat is a common beast enough therefore I 
need not tell of his making, for there be few men 
that have not seen some of them. Nevertheless 
there be many and diverse kind of cats, after 
some masters' opinions, and namely of wild (cats). 
Especially there be some cats as big as leopards 
and some men call them Guyenne loup cerviers 1 
and other cat-wolves, and this is evil said for they 
are neither wolves nor cerviers nor cat-wolves. 
Men might (better) call them cat-leopards than 
otherwise, for they draw more to a leopard kind 
than to any other beast. They live on such meat 
as other cats do, save that they take hens in hedges 2 
and goats and sheep, if they find them alone, for 
they be as big as a wolf, and almost formed and 
made as a leopard, but their tail is not so long. 
A greyhound alone could not take one of them 

1 According to the Shirley MS. this passage runs, "Men 
calleth him in Guyene loupeceruyers." See Appendix : Wild 
Cat. 

2 Shirley MS. has " and egges," instead of " in hedges," which 

is the rendering G. de F. gives. 

7 o 



(WILD) CAT AND ITS NATURE 71 

to make him abide, for a greyhound could sooner 
take and hold fast and more steadfastly a wolf 
than he could one of them. For he claws as a 
leopard and furthermore bites right (hard). Men 
hunt them but seldom, but if the hounds find 
peradventure such a cat, he would not be long 
hunted for soon he putteth him to his defence or 
he runneth up a tree. And because he flieth not 
long therefore shall I speak but little of his 
hunting, for in hunting him there is no need of 
great mastery. They bear their kittens and are 
in their love as other cats, save that they have 
but two kittens at once. They dwell in hollow 
trees and there they make their Hgging 1 and their 
beds of ferns and of grass. The cat helpeth as 
badly to nourish his kittens as the wolf doth his 
whelps. Of common wild cats I need not to speak 
much, for every hunter in England knoweth them, 
and their falseness and malice are well known. But 
one thing I dare well say that if any beast hath the 
devil's spirit in him, without doubt it is the cat, 
both the wild and the tame. 

1 Bed or resting-place. See Appendix. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE OTTER AND HIS NATURE 

An otter is a common beast enough and therefore 
I need not tell of his making. She liveth with 
(on ?) fish and dwelleth by rivers and by ponds 
and stanks (pools). And sometimes she feedeth 
on grass of the meadows and bideth gladly under 
the roots of trees near the rivers, and goeth to her 
feeding as doth other beasts to grass, but only in 
the new grass time, and to fish as I have said. 
They swimmeth in waters and rivers and some- 
times diveth under the water when they will, and 
therefore no fish can escape them unless it be too 
great a one. They doth great harm specially in 
ponds and in stanks, for a couple of otters with- 
out more shall well destroy the fish of a great 
pond or great stank, and therefore men hunt them. 
They go in their love at the time that ferrets do, 
so they that hold (keep) ferrets in their houses 
may well know the time thereof. They bear their 
whelps as long as the ferrets and sometimes more 
and sometimes less. They whelp in holes under 
the trees near the rivers. Men hunt at them with 



THE OTTER AND HIS NATURE jz 

hounds by great mastery, as I say hereafter. 1 And 
also men take them at other times in rivers with 
small cords as men do the fox with nets and with 
other gins. She hath an evil biting and venom- 
ous and with her strength defendeth herself 
mightily from the hounds. And when she is 
taken with nets unless men get to her at once she 
rendeth them with her teeth and delivereth herself 
out of them. Longer will I not make mention of 
her, nor of her nature, for the hunting at her is 
the best that men may see of her, save only that 
she has the foot of a goose, for she hath a little 
skin from one claw to another, and she hath no 
heel save that she hath a little lump under the 
foot, and men speak of the steps or the marches 
of the otter as men speak of the trace of the hart, 
and his fumes (excrements) tredeles or spraints. 
The otter dwelleth but little in one place, for 
where she goeth the fish be sore afraid. Some- 
times she will swim upwards and downwards seek- 
ing the fish a mile or two unless it be in a stank. 
Of the remnant of his nature I refer to Milbourne 2 
the king s otter hunter. As of all other vermin I 
speak not, that is to say of martens and pole cats, for 
no good hunter goeth to the wood with his hounds 

1 The author of "Master of Game" does not say anything 
more about the otter. 

2 In Priv. Seal 674/6456, Feb. 18, 14 10, William Melbourne 
is valet of our otterhounds. See Appendix : Otter. 



74 THE MASTER OF GAME 

intending to hunt for them, nor for the wild cat 
either. Nevertheless when men seek in covert for 
the fox and can find none, and the hounds hap fen 
to find them and then the hunter rejoiceth his 
hounds for the ex f hit of his hounds, and also because 
it is vermin that they run to. Of conies I do not 
speak, for no man hunteth them unless it be bish- 
hunters (fur hunters), and they hunt them with 
ferrets and with long small h ay es. Those r aches 
that run to a coney at any time ought to be rated 
saying to them loud, "Ware riot, ware," for no 
other wild beast in England is called riot save the 
coney only. 



CHAPTER XII 

OF THE MANNER AND HABITS AND 
CONDITIONS OF HOUNDS 

After that 1 have spoken of the nature of beasts 
of venery and of chase which men should hunt, 
now I will tell you of the nature of the hounds 
which hunt and take them. And first of their 
noble conditions that be so great and marvellous 
in some hounds that there is no man can believe 
it, unless he were a good skilful hunter, and well 
knowing, and that he haunted them long, for a 
hound is a most reasonable beast, and best know- 
ing of any beast that ever God made. And yet 
in some case I neither except man nor other thing, 
for men find it in so many stories and (see) so 
much nobleness in hounds, always from day to 
day, that as I have said there is no man that liveth, 
but must think it. Nevertheless natures of men 
and all beasts go ever more descending and de- 
creasing both of life and of goodness and of 
strength and of all other things so wonderfully, 
as the Earl of Foix Phebus sayeth in his book, that 
when he seeth the hounds that be now hunting 
and thinketh of the hounds that he hath seen in 



76 THE MASTER OF GAME 

the time that is passed, and also of the goodness 
and the truth, which was sometimes in the lords 
of this world, and other common men, and seeth 
what now is in them at this time, truly he saith 
that there is no comparison, and this knoweth well 
every man that hath any good reason. But now 
let God ordain thereof whatever His good will 
is. But to draw again to my matter, and tell the 
nobleness of the hounds, the which have been, some 
good tales I shall tell you the which I find in true 
writings. First of King Claudoneus 1 of France, 
the which sent once after his great court whereof 
were other kings which held of him land, among 
the which was the King Appollo of Lyonnys that 
brought with him to the court his wife and a grey- 
hound that he had, that was both good and fair. 
The King Claudoneus of France had a seemly 
young man for his son, of twenty years of age, and 
as soon as he saw the Queen of Lyonnys he loved 
her and prayed her of (for her) love. The Queen 
was a good lady and loved well her lord, forsook 
him and would him not, and said (to) him that if 
he spake to her any more thereof that she would 
tell it to the King of France, and to her Lord. 
And after that the feast was passed, King Appollo 
of Lyonnys turned again, he and his wife to their 
country. And when they were so turned again, 
he and his wife, the King Claudoneus son of 
1 In G. de F. " Clodoveus," p. 82. 



THE HABITS OF HOUNDS 77 

France was before him with a great fellowship of 
men of arms for to ravish his wife from him. The 
King Appollo of Lyonnys that was a wonderful 
good knight of his hounds (hands ?) notwithstand- 
ing that he was unarmed, defended himself and 
his wife in the best wise that he could unto the 
time that he was wounded to the death, then he 
withdrew himself and his wife into a tower. And 
the King Claudoneus son, the which would not 
leave the lady, went in and took the lady, and 
would have defiled her, and then she said to him 
" Ye have slain my lord, and (now) ye would dis- 
honour me, certes I would sooner be dead," then 
she drew herself to (from) a window and leapt into 
the river of Loire that ran under the tower and 
anon she was drowned. And after that within a 
little while, the King Appollo of Lyonnys died 
of his wounds that he had received, and on the 
same day he was cast into the river. The grey- 
hound that I have spoke of, the which was always 
with the king his master, when his lord was cast 
in the river leapt after him into the river, insomuch 
that with his teeth he drew his lord out of the 
river, and made a great pit with his claws in the 
best wise that he could, and with his muzzle. 
And so the greyhound always kept his lord about 
half a year in the pit, and kept his lord from all 
manner of beasts and fowls. And if any man ask 
whereof he lived I say that he lived on carrion 



78 THE MASTER OF GAME 

and of other feeding such as he might come to. 
So it befell that the King Claudoneus of France 
rode to see the estate of his realm, and (it) befell 
that the king passed there where the greyhound 
was that kept his lord and master, and the grey- 
hound arose against him, and began to yelp at 
him. The King Claudoneus of France the which 
was a good man and of good perception, anon 
when he saw the greyhound, knew that it was the 
greyhound that King Appollo of Lyonnys had 
brought to his court, whereof he had great wonder, 
and he went himself there where the greyhound 
was and saw the pit, and then he made some of 
his men alight from their horses for to look what 
was therein, and therein they found the King 
Appollo's body all whole. And anon as the 
King Claudoneus of France saw him, he knew it 
was the King Appollo of Lyonnys, whereof he was 
right sorry and sore aggrieved, and ordained a cry 
throughout all his realm, that whoso would tell 
him the truth of the deed he would give him 
whatsoever that he would ask. Then came a 
damsel that was in the tower when the King 
Appollo of Lyonnys was dead, and thus she said 
to the King Claudoneus of France, "Sir," quoth 
she, " if you will grant me a boon that I shall ask 
and assure me to have it, before all your men, I 
shall show you him that hath done the deed," 
and the King swore to her before his men, and it 



THE HABITS OF HOUNDS 79 

so befell that the King Claudoneus son of France 
was beside his father. "Sir," she said, " here is 
your son the which hath done this deed. Now 
require I you as ye have sworn to me that ye give 
him to me, I will no other gift of you." The 
King Claudoneus of France turned him then 
towards his son and said thus: "Thou cursed 
harlot, thou hast shamed and shent (disgraced) 
me and truly I shall shend (disgrace) you. And 
though I have no more children yet shall I not 
spare." Then he commanded to his men to 
make a great fire, and cast his son therein, and he 
turned him toward the damsel when the fire was 
great alight, and thus to her he said : " Damsel, 
now take ye him for I deliver him to you, as I 
promised and assured you." The damsel durst 
not come nigh, for by that time he was all burnt. 
This ensample have I brought forth for the noble- 
ness of hounds and also of lords that have been 
in olden times. But I trow that few lords be 
now that would do so even and so open justice. 
A hound is true to his lord and his master, and 
of good love and true. 

A hound is of great understanding and of great 
knowledge, a hound hath great strength and great 
goodness, a hound is a wise beast' and a kind (one). 
A hound has a great memory and great smelling, 1 

1 G. de F., p. 84, says " sentement? good sense, feeling, or 
sympathy. 



8o THE MASTER OF GAME 

a hound has great diligence and great might, a 
hound is of great worthiness and of great subtlety, 
a hound is of great lightness and of great perse- 
verance (?), a hound is of good obedience, for he 
will learn as a man all that a man will teach him. 
A hound is full of good sport ; hounds are so 
good that there is scarcely a man that would not 
have of them, some for one craft, and some for 
another. Hounds are hardy, for a hound dare 
well keep his master's house, and his beasts, and 
also he will keep all his master's goods, and he 
would sooner die than anything be lost in his 
keeping. And yet to affirm the nobleness of 
hounds, I shall tell you a tale of a greyhound 
that was Auberie's of Moundydier, of which men 
may see the painting in the realm of France in 
many places. Aubery was a squire of the king's 
house of France, and upon a day that he was 
going from the court to his own house, and as he 
passed by the woods of Bondis, the which is nigh 
Paris, and led with him a well good and a fair 
greyhound that he had brought up. A man that 
hated him for great envy without any other 
reason, who was called Makarie, ran upon him 
within the wood and slew him without warning, 
for Auberie was not aware of him. And when 
the greyhound sought his master and found him 
he covered him with earth and with leaves with 
his claws and his muzzle in the best way that he 



THE HABITS OF HOUNDS 81 

could. And when he had been there three days 
and could no longer abide for hunger, he turned 
again to the king's court. There he found 
Makarie, who was a great gentleman, who had 
slain his master, and as soon as the greyhound 
perceived Makarie, he ran upon him, and would 
have maimed him, unless men had hindered him. 
The King of France, who was wise and a man of 
perception, asked what it was, and men told him 
the truth. The greyhound took from the boards 
what he could, and brought to his master and put 
meat in his mouth, and the same wise the grey- 
hound did three days or four. And then the 
King made men follow the greyhound, for to see 
where he bare the meat that he took in the court. 
And then they found Auberie dead and buried. 
And then the King, as I have said, made come 
many of the men of his court, and made them 
stroke the greyhound's side, and cherish him and 
made his men lead him by the collar towards the 
house, but he never stirred. And then the King 
commanded Makarie to take a small piece of flesh 
and give it to the greyhound. And as soon as 
the greyhound saw Makarie, he left the flesh, and 
would have run upon him. And when the King 
saw that, he had great suspicions about Makarie, 
and said (to) him that he must needs fight against 
the greyhound. And Makarie began to laugh, 
but anon the King made him do the deed, and one 

f 



82 THE MASTER OF GAME 

of the kinsmen of Auberie saw the great marvel 
of the greyhound and said that he would swear 
upon the sacrament as is the custom in such a case 
for the greyhound, and Makarie swore on the 
other side, and then they were led into our Lady's 
Isle at Paris and there fought the greyhound and 
Makarie. For which Makarie had a great two- 
handed staff, and they fought so that Makarie 
was discomntted, and then the king commanded 
that the greyhound the which had Makarie under 
him should be taken up, and then the King made 
enquiry of the truth of Makarie, the which 
acknowledged he had slain Aubrey in treason, and 
therefore he was hanged and drawn. 

The bitches be jolly in their love commonly 
twice in a year, but they have no term of their heat, 
for every time of the year some be jolly. When 
they be a twelvemonth old, they become jolly, 
and be jolly while they await the hounds without 
any defence, twelve days or less, 1 and sometimes 
fifteen days, according as to whether they be of 
hot nature or of cold, the one more than another, 
or whether some be in better condition than others. 
And also men may well help them thereto, for if 
they give them much meat they abide longer in 
their heat than if they had but little. And also 
if they were cast in a river twice in a day they 
should be sooner out of their jollity. They bear 
1 G. de F., p. 85, "Au moins," at least. 



THE HABITS OF HOUNDS 83 

their whelps nine weeks or more ; the whelps be 
blind when they be whelped till they be nine 
days old and then they may well see and lap well 
when they be a month old, but they have great 
need of their dam to the time that they be two 
months old, and then they should be well fed 
with goat's milk or with cow's milk and crumbs 
of bread made small and put therein, especially in 
the morn and at night. Because that the night 
is more cold than the day. And also men should 
give them crumbs in flesh-broth, and in this wise 
men may nourish them till they be half a year 
old, and by that time they shall have cast their 
hooks, and when they have cast their hooks, they 
should teach them to eat dry bread and lap water 
little by little, for a hound that is nourished with 
grease and fat broth when he casts his hooks, and if 
he hath always sops or tit-bits, he is a chis 1 (dainty) 
hound and of evil ward. And also they be not 
so well breathed than if they have eaten always 
bread and water. When the bitches be lined they 
lose their time, and also while they be great with 
whelps, and also while their whelps suck. If they 
are not lined, soon they will lose their time, for 
their teats remain great and grow full of wind 
until the time that they should have had their 

1 "Chis," or "cheese," hound, probably dainty hound, a 
chooser, from " cheosan," Mid. Eng. " choose," to distinguish : 
also written " ches," " chees." (Stratmann.) 



84 THE MASTER OF GAME 

whelps. And so that they should not lose their 
time men spaye them, save these that men will 
keep open to bear whelps. And also a spayed 
bitch lasteth longer in her goodness than other 
two that be not spayed. 1 And if a bitch be with 
whelps the which be not of ward let the bitch fast 
all the whole day, and give her then with a little 
grease the juice of a herb men calleth titimal, the 
which the apothecaries knoweth well, and she 
shall cast her whelps. Nevertheless it is a great 
peril namely if the whelps be great and formed 
within the bitch. The greatest fault of hounds 
is that they live not long enough, most commonly 
they live but twelve years. And also men should 
let run no hounds of what condition that they be 
nor hunt them until the time that they were a 
twelve month old and past. And also they can 
hunt but nine years at the most. 

1 Lasts longer good, i.e. lasts as long as two hounds that 
have not been spayed. G. de F. (p. 86) adds : "or at least 
one and a half." 



CHAPTER XIII 

OF SICKNESSES OF HOUNDS AND OF THEIR 
CORRUPTIONS 

The hounds have many divers sicknesses and 
their greatest sickness is the rage whereof there 
be nine manners, of the which I shall tell you a 
part. The first is called furious madness. The 
hounds that be mad of that madness cry and 
howl with a loud voice, and not in the way that 
they were wont to when they were in health. 
When they escape they go everywhere biting 
both men and women and all that they find be- 
fore them. And they have a wonderful perilous 
biting, for if they bite anything, with great pain 
it shall escape thereof if they draw blood, that it 
shall go mad whatever thing it be. A token for 
to know at the beginning, is this, that they eat 
not so well as they were wont to, and they bite 
the other hounds, making them cheer with the 
tail 1 first, smelleth 2 upon them and licketh 3 them 

1 Cherish, " wagging their tayles and seeming to cherish 
them," Turbervile, p. 223. See Appendix : Madness. 

2 It should read " smelleth," as it is in Shirley MS. and in 
G. de F., p. 87. 

3 The friendly licking of other dogs has often been noticed 
as an early symptom of rabies in a pack of hounds. 

85 



86 THE MASTER OF GAME 

and then he bloweth a great blast with his nose, 
and then he looketh fiercely, and beholdeth his 
own sides and maketh semblant that he had flies 
about him, and then he crieth. And when men 
know such tokens men should take him from 
the others until the fourth day, for then men 
may see the sickness all clearly, or else that he is 
not mad for some time. Many men be beguiled 
in that way. And if any hound be mad of any 
of the nine madnesses he shall never be whole. 
And their madness cannot last but nine days l 
but they shall never be whole but dead. That 
other manner of madness is known by these signs : 
In the beginning he doth as I said before, save 
that they neither bite man nor beast save only the 
hounds, as perilous is his biting as the first, and 
ever more they go up and down without any 
abiding. And this madness is called running 
madness. And these two madnesses beforesaid 
taketh the other hounds that they be with, though 
they bite them not. That other madness is called 
ragemuet (dumb madness) for they neither bite 
nor run not, eke they will not eat for their mouth 

1 Du Fouilloux in his La Ve?ierie (published 1 561) copied 
much from Gaston de Foix's book, but either he or his editors 
made the ridiculous mistake of saying nine mo7iths instead 
of days. Turbervile, who translated, or rather cribbed, Du 
Fouilloux's book, has copied this absurd mistake, and says 
a hound may continue thus nine months, but not past (p. 
222). 



OF SICKNESSES OF HOUNDS 87 

is somewhat gaping as if they were enosed 1 in their 
throat, and so they die, within the term beforesaid 
without doing any harm. Some men say that it 
cometh to them from a worm 2 that they have 
under the tongue, and ye should find but few 
hounds that hath not a worm under the tongue. 
And many men say that if that worm was taken 
from them they would never go mad, but thereof 
I make no affirmation. Nevertheless it is good 
to take it from them, and men should take it 
away in this manner. Men should take the 
hound when he is past half a year old and hold 
fast his fore-feet, and put a staff athwart his 
mouth so that he should not bite. And after 
take the tongue and ye should find the worm 
under the tongue, then ye should slit the tongue 
underneath and put a needle with a thread betwixt 
the worm and tongue and cut and draw the worm 
out with the thread or else with a small fin of wood. 
And notwithstanding that men call it a worm 
it is but a great vein that hounds have under 
their tongue. This madness diseaseth not other 
hounds, neither man nor other beast. That 
other madness is called falling, for when they 
want to walk straight they fall now on one side 
and now on the other side, and so die within the 

1 Means " a bone in their throat." G. de F. (p. 88) : " comme 
si ils avoient un os en la gueule." In the Shirley MS. " enosed," 
i.e. " un osP See Appendix : Madness. 

2 See Appendix : Worming. 



88 THE MASTER OF GAME 

aforesaid term. This madness stretcheth to no 
other hound nor man or beast. That other 
madness is called flank madness, 1 for they be so 
sore and tucked up by the middle of the flanks 
as though they never ate meat, and pant in their 
flanks with much pain, and will not eat, but stoop 
low with the head and always look downwards, 
and when they go they take up their feet high 
and go rolling as a drunken man. This madness 
stretcheth to no other hound nor to any other 
things, and they die as it is said before. The other 
madness is called sleeping madness, for they lie 
always and make semblant as if they were asleep, 
and so they die without meat. This sickness 
stretcheth to no other thing. That other madness 
is called madness of head. Nevertheless all mad- 
nesses are of foolishness of the head and of the 
heat of the heart, for their head becometh great 
and swelleth fast. They eat no meat and so they 
die in that madness. This madness stretcheth to 
no other thing. And certainly I never saw a 
hound that had any of all these madnesses that 
ever might be healed. Nevertheless many men 
think sometime that a hound be mad when it 
is not so, and therefore the best proof that any 
man may do, is to draw him from the other hounds 
and assaye him three whole days each one after 

1 " Lank madness" in Turbervile, p. 223. Tucked up. G. de 
F. (p. 88) : " cousus parmi les flans" ("the flanks drawn in"). 



OF SICKNESSES OF HOUNDS 89 

the other following, if he will eat flesh or any other 
thing. And if he will not eat within three days 
slay him as a mad hound. The remedies for men 
or for beasts that be bitten by mad hounds must 
need be done a short time after the biting, for if 
it were past a whole day it were hard to undertake 
to heal him of the two first madnesses whereof 
I spake at the beginning, for all the others can 
do no harm, and the remedy may be of divers 
manners. Some goeth to the sea, and that is but 
a little help, and maketh nine waves of the sea 
pass over him that is so bitten. Some take an old 
cock and pull all the feathers from above his vent 
and hangeth him by the legs and by the wings, and 
setteth the cock's vent upon the hole of the biting, 
and stroketh along the cock by the neck and by 
the shoulders because that the cock's vent should 
suck all the venom of the biting. And so men do 
long upon each of the wounds, and if the wounds 
be too little theymust be made wider with a barber's 
lancet. And many men say, but thereof I make 
no affirmation, that if the hound were mad, that 
the cock shall swell and die, and he that was bitten 
by the hound shall be healed. If the cock does 
not die it is a token that the hound is not mad. 
There is another help, for men may make sauce 
of salt, vinegar and strong garlic pulled and 
stamped, and nettles together and as hot as it may 
be suffered to lay upon the bite. And this is 



9o THE MASTER OF GAME 

a good medicine and a true, for it hath been 
proved, and every day should it be laid upon the 
biting twice, as hot as it can be suffered, until 
the time when it be whole, or else by nine days. 
And yet there is another medicine better than all 
the other. Take leeks and strong garlic and 
chives and rue and nettles and hack them small 
with a knife, and then mingle them with olive oil 
and vinegar, and boil them together, and then 
take all the herbs, also as hot as they may be 
suffered, and lay them on the wound every day 
twice, till the wound be healed, or at least for 
nine days. But at the beginning that the wound 
be closed or garsed * (cupped) for to draw out 
the venom but of the wound because that it goeth 
not to the heart. And if a hound is bit by another 
mad hound it is a good thing for to hollow it all 
about the biting with a hot iron. The hounds 
have also another sickness that is called the mange, 
that cometh to them because that they be melan- 
choly. There are four manners of mange, that 
one is called the quick mange the which pulleth 2 
the hounds and breaketh their skins in many 
places, and the skin waxeth great and thick, and 

1 In Shirley MS. " ventoused upon or gersed." G. de F. : 
" ventouses, que on appelle coupes," hence " cupped and lanced " 
would be the proper meaning. 

2 Makes them lose their hair. G. de F. (p. 90), "et s\ poile 
le chien." 



OF SICKNESSES OF HOUNDS 91 

this is wonderfully evil to heal, for though the 
hounds may be whole it cometh to them again. 
Commonly to this mange, this is the best ointment 
that men may make thereto. Nevertheless many 
men would put many others thereto, first take ye 
six pounds of honey and a quart of verdigris, and 
that the honey be first melted and stirred in the 
bottom with a ladle, and then let it cool, and let 
it boil often with as much of oil of nuts as of the 
honey and of water, wherein an herb has been 
boiled that men call in Latin Cleoborum, and in 
other language Valerian, the which make men 
sneeze, and put all these things together and 
mingle them upon the fire, stir them well and let 
it be cold, and anoint the hound by the fire or in 
the sun. And look that he lick not himself, for 
it should do him harm. And unless he be whole 
at the first time anoint him from eight days (to 
eight days) x until the time that he be whole, for 
certainly he shall be whole. And if he will make 
any more of that ointment, take of the things 
aforesaid in the same wise or more or less as 
seemëth to you that need is. That other manner 
(of) mange is called flying mange, 2 for it is not in 
all the body but it cometh more commonly about 
the hounds' ears, and in their legs than in any 

1 "To viii. days" has been omitted. 

2 Some confusion, which is still common, between eczema 
from various causes, and true parasitic mange or scabies. 



92 THE MASTER OF GAME 

other place of the body, 1 as the farcy, and this is 
the worst to heal, and the best ointment that any 
man can make for this manner of mange is this : 
take quicksilver for as much as ye will make 
ointment, as ye have need, and put it in a dish 
with spittle of three or four fasting men, and stir 
it altogether against the bottom of the dish with 
a pot-stick, until the time that the quicksilver be 
quenched with the water, and then take ye as much 
verdigris as of the quicksilver and mingle it with 
spittle, always stirring with a pot-stick, as I have 
said before, until the time that they can be all 
mingled together. And after take old swine's 
grease without salt, a great piece, and take away 
the skin above, and put it in the dish that I spake 
of, with the things before said, and mingle and 
stamp it altogether a long while, then keep it to 
anoint the hound there where he hath the mange 
and in no other place, and certainly he shall be 
whole. This ointment is marvellous and good and 
true not only for this thing, but also against the 
canker and fistula and farcy and other quick evils, 
the which have been hard to heal in other beasts. 
That other is a common mange when the hounds 
claw themselves with their feet and snap with 
their teeth, and it is on all the body of the hound. 
And all manners of mange come to hounds from 

1 G. de F. (p. 91) adds : "et est vermeille et saute d'un lieu 
en autre." 



OF SICKNESSES OF HOUNDS 93 

great travel and from long hunting, as when they 
be hot they drink of foul water and unclean, which 
corrupteth their bodys, and also when they hunt in 
evil places of pricklings of thorns, of briers, or per- 
adventure it raineth upon them, and they be not 
well tended afterwards. Then cometh the scab, 
and also the scab cometh upon them when they 
abide in their kennel too long 1 and goeth not hunt- 
ing. Or else their litter and couch is uncleanly 
kept, or else the straw is not removed and their 
water not freshened, and shortly the hounds un- 
clean, I hold, and evil kept or long waterless, have 
commonly this mange. For the cure of which take 
ye the root of an herb that groweth upon houses 
and walls, the which is called in Latin iroos 2 (iris) 
and chop it small and boil it well in water, and 
then put thereto as much of oil made of nuts as 
of water, and when it is well boiled cast out the 
herb, and then take of black pitch and of rosin as 
much of the one as of the other, well stamped, and 
cast it in the water and the oil before said, and stir 
it well about on the fire with a pot-stick : and then 
let it well grow cold, and anoint the hound as before 

1 In the Shirley MS. the words are added : " to(o) hye plyte," 
i.e. too high condition. G. de F. (p. 91) adds "gresse." 

2 Ireos, Eng. Iris. This word is also constantly recurring 
in old household books. Aniseed and orris powder were placed 
among linen to preserve it from insects. In Edward IV.'s 
Wardrobe Accounts we read of bags of fustian stuffed with 
anneys and ireos. 



94 THE MASTER OF GAME 

is said. Sometime cometh to the hounds sickness 
in their eyes, for there cometh a web upon them, 
and growing flesh which cometh into that one side 
of the eye, and is called a nail, 1 and so they grow 
blind unless a man take care thereof. Some men 
put about their necks a collar of an elm tree both 
of leaves and of bark, and seeth that when that 
shall be dry the nail shall fall away, but that is 
but a little help. But the true help that may be 
thereto is this, take ye the juice of a herb that men 
call Selidoyn (Celandine) 2 powder of ginger and 
of pepper, and put all together thrice in the day 
within the eye, and let him not claw nor rub it 
a long while, and that customarily by nine days 

1 Pterygium, name for the "sickness" in the eyes of hounds 
which our MS. describes as a "web coming upon them." It 
is called pterygium from its resemblance to an insect's wing ; 
is an hypertrophy of the conjunctiva or lining membrane of the 
eye, due to irritation ; it extends from the inner angle to the 
cornea, which it may cover : the treatment is excision. The 
cure for "the nail" mentioned in our MS. of hanging a collar 
of elm leaves round the dog is taken by G. de F. (p. 92) from 
Roy Modus xliv., where it is given without the saving clause 
" Mes cela est bien petit remède." 

2 Celandine, Chalidonium Majus, from x f ^ooi>, a swallow. 
The name was derived from the tradition that swallows used 
it to open the eyes of their young or to restore their sight. Has 
a yellow flower and an acrid, bitter, orange juice. Internally 
an irritant poison. Infusions in wine used by Galen and 
Bioscorides for jaundice, probably from the colour of the juice 
and flowers. Externally the juice was much used for wounds, 
ulcers, ophthalmic cases, and for the removal of warts. The 
Old French name for this plant was herbe d^arondelles {hiron- 
delles). 



OF SICKNESSES OF HOUNDS 95 

until the time that the hound's eyes be whole, and 
also it is good to put therein of the Sousse ' of the 
which men find enough at the apothecary's for the 
same sickness, and if the nail were so hard grown 
and so strong that he might not be healed there- 
with, take a needle and bow it in the middle that 
it be crooked, and take well and subtly the flesh 
that is upon the eye with the needle and draw it 
up on high, and then cut it with a razor, but 
take good care that the needle touch not the eye. 
These things the smiths can do well, 2 for as the 
nail is drawn out of a horse's eye, right so it must 
be drawn out of the hound's eye, and without fault 
he shall be whole. And also another sickness 
cometh into the hound's ears the which cometh 
out of the rewme (cold) of the head of the hound, 
for they claw themselves so much with the hinder 
feet that they make much foul things come out 
thereof, and so out of her ears cometh much foul 
things, and some time thereof they become deaf. 
Therefore they should take wine luke-warm and 
with a cloth wash it well, and clean three or four 
times in the day, and when it is washed ye should 
cast therein oil and camomile milk, warm, three 
drops, and suffer him not to claw it nor rub it a 
great while, and do so continually until the time 

1 Shirley MS. has "foussye," G. de F. (p. 92) "de la poudre 
de la tutie," oxide of zinc. 

2 Shirley MS. adds : "that be marshals for horses." 



96 THE MASTER OF GAME 

that he be whole. Also hounds have another 
sickness that cometh to them of the rewme, that 
is to say, they have the malemort (glanders) in their 
nostrils as horses have, wherefore they can smell 
nothing nor wind, and at the last some die thereof, 
and they take it most when they hunt in snow. For 
this sickness boil mastic and incense in small powder 
in fair water, and of a thing that men call Ostoraces 
calamynt, 1 brygella 2 of rue 3 and mint and of sage, 
and hold the hound's nose upon the pot's mouth 
wherein these things should boil so that he may 
retain within his nostrils the smoke that cometh 
thereof out of the pot. And in this wise serve 
him a long while, three or four times every day, 
until the time that he be whole, and this is good 
also for a horse when he hath the glanders strongly 

1 Estoracis calamita, G. de F., p. 93. Lavallée appends the 
note : " Storax et Styrax calamita? Storax, a resin resembling 
benzoin, was in high esteem from the time of Pliny to the 
eighteenth century. It was obtained from the stem of Styrax 
officinalis, a native of Greece and the Levant. In our MS. four 
other ingredients mentioned by G. de F. have been left out, 
but the Shirley MS. gives them : "and oyle of Kamamyle and 
of Mallyor of aushes and of calamynt," i.e. oil of camomile, 
melilot (Meliters), rosemary, thymus calamita, a species of 
balm. Possibly this is a mint called Calaminta nepeta, a plant 
formerly much used in medicine as a gentle stimulant and tonic. 
Melilot, a genus of clover-like plants of the natural order of 
Leguminose. 

2 Mildew. G. de F. (p. 93), Nigella, Nielle. 

3 Reive, Mod. Eng. rue, Lat. ruta. This herb was in great 
repute among the ancients, and is still employed in medicine 
as a powerful stimulant. 



OF SICKNESSES OF HOUNDS 97 

coming out of the nose. Also there is another 
sickness of hounds, the which cometh to them in 
their throats and sometime cometh so to men in 
such wise that they may not keep down their meat, 
and so they must cast it out again. In some time 
the sickness is so strong on them, that they can 
keep nothing down in their bodies and so die. 
The best medicine is to let them go wherever they 
will, and let them eat all that ever they will. For 
sometime the contrary things turneth them to 
good. And give them to eat flesh right small 
cut, and put in broth or in goat's milk a little, 
and a little because that they may swallow it 
down without labour, and give him not too much 
at once, that they may digest better. And also 
buttered eggs doeth them much good. And 
sometimes the hounds hurt themselves in their 
feet, and in their legs, and in their breast. And 
when it is in the joints of their feet that be run 
out of their places, the best help that there is is 
to bring them again into joint, by such men as 
can well do it, and then lay upon that place flax 
wetted in white of egg, and let them rest until 
the time that they be whole. And if there be any 
broken bones men should knit it again in the best 
wise, the one bone against that other and bind it 
with flax above as I have said, and with four 
splints well bound thereto that one against that 
other, because that the bone should not unjoin, 

G 



9 8 THE MASTER OF GAME 

and men should remove the bands from four days 
to four days all whole. And give them to drink 
the juice of herbs that are called consolida major 1 
and minor, 2 and mix it in broth or in her meat, 
and that shall make the bones join together. Also 
many hounds be lost by the feet, and if some time 
they be heated take vinegar and soot that is 
within the chimney, and wash his feet therewith 
until the time that they be whole, and if the soles 
of the feet be bruised because, peradventure, they 
have run in hard country or among stones, take 
water, and small salt therein, and therewith wash 
their feet, the same day that they have hunted, 
and if they have hunted in evil country among 
thorns and briars that they be hurt in their legs 
or in their feet, wash their legs in sheep's tallow 
well boiled in wine when it is cold, and rub them 
well upward against the hair. The best that men 
may do to hounds that they lose not their claws 
is that they sojourn not too long, for in long 
sojourning they lose their claws, and their feet, and 
therefore they should be led three times in the 
week a-hunting, and at the least twice. If they 
have sojourned too much, cut ye a little off the 
end of their claws with pincers ere they go hunt- 

1 Consolida major. Lavallée in his note (p. 94) translates 
this coiisoude, which in English is comfrey, Latin Symphytum. 

2 Consolida minor (Lavallée : note, petit consolidé), Mod. Fr. 
Brunelle. G. de F. p. 94. Eng. Selfheal. Lat. Prunella 
vulgaris. It was at one time in repute as a febrifuge. 



OF SICKNESSES OF HOUNDS 99 

ing, so that they may not break their claws in 
running. Also when they be at sojourn, men 
should lead them out every day a mile or two 
upon gravel or upon a right hard path by a river 
side, so that their feet may be hard. Hounds 
also sometimes be chilled as horses when they 
have run too long, and come hot in some water, 
or else when they come to rest in some cold place, 
then they go all forenoon and cannot eat, nor 
cannot walk well, then should men let blood on 
the four legs. From the forelegs in the joints 
within the leg, from the hinder legs men should 
let blood in the veins that goeth overthwart above 
the hocks on the other side, and in the hinder legs 
men may well see clearly the veins that I speak of, 
and also in the forelegs, thus he shall be whole. 
And give him one day sops or some other thing 
comfortable till the morrow or other day. The 
hounds also have a sickness in the yerde that men 
calleth the canker, and many be lost thereby. 
Men should take such a hound and hold him fast 
and upright and bind his mouth and his four legs 
also, and then men should take his yerde back- 
ward by the ballocks and put him upward, and 
another man shall draw the skin well in manner 
that the yerde may all come out, and then a man 
may take away the canker with his fingers, for if 
it were taken away with a knife men might cut 
him. And then men should wash it with wine, 



too THE MASTER OF GAME 

milk warm, and then put therein honey and salt, 
so that the sickness shall not come again, and then 
put again the yerde within the skin as it was before, 
and look every week that the sickness come not 
again, and take it always out if aught come thereto 
until the time that it be whole. And in the same 
wise a man should do to a bitch, if such a sickness 
were taken in her nature. In this sickness many 
hounds and bitches die for default of these cures, 
whereof all hunters have not full knowledge. 
Sometimes the hounds have a great sickness that 
they may not piss, and be lost thereby and also 
when they may not scombre (dung). Then take 
ye the root of a cabbage and put it in olive oil, 
and put it in his fundament so that ye leave 
some of the end without, so much that it may 
be drawn out when it is needful. And if he 
may not be whole thereby make him a clyster as 
men do to a man, of mallows, of beets, and of 
mercury, a handful of each, and of rue and of 
incense, and that all these things be boiled in water 
and put bran within, and let pass all that water 
through a strainer, and thereto put two drachms 
of agarite 1 and of honey and of olive oil, and all 
this together put into his anus and he shall scombre. 

1 Agarys. G. de F. (Fagret, probably agrimony, Lat. agri- 
?nonia. It is bitter and styptic, and was much valued in 
domestic medicine ; a decoction of it being used as a gargle 
and the dried leaves as a kind of tea, and the root as a 
vermifuge. 



OF SICKNESSES OF HOUNDS 101 

And then take five corns of spurge 1 and stamp 
them and temper them with goat's milk or with 
broth, and put it in the hound's throat to the 
amount of a glassful. And if he may not piss 
take the leaves of leeks and of a herb that is called 
marrubium album 2 and of modirwort 3 and of 
peritorie 4 and morsus galline 5 and of nettles and 
parsley leaves as much of the one as of the other, 
and stamp them with swine's grease therewith, and 
make a plaster thereof, and make it a little hot, 
and lay it upon the hound's yerde and along his 
belly, and that which is hard to understand ye 
shall find at the apothecary's, the which know 
well all these things. Also to the hounds cometh 
sores, that cometh to them under the throat or 
in other parts of the body. Then take ye of the 

1 Euphorbia resi7iifera, common spurge, exudes a very acrid 
milky juice which dries into a gum resin. Still used for some 
plasters. 

2 Marrubium vulgaj-e. G. de F. marrabre bUvic, Eng. white 
horehound. It enjoyed a great reputation as a stimulating 
expectorant employed in asthma, consumption, and other 
pulmonary affections. 

3 Leonurus cardiaca. G. de F. Ar/emise, Eng. Motherwort, 
Mod. Fr. armoise. A plant allied to the horehound as a vascular 
stimulant and diuretic and a general tome, employed in dropsy, 
gout, rheumatism, and uterine disorders. 

4 Parietaria. Eng. Wall pellitory. An old domestic remedy. 
It was supposed to be astringent and cooling, and used locally 
for inflammation, burns, erysipelas, and internally as a diuretic. 
It grows on old walls and heaps of rubbish. 

5 Morsus gallinus. 



102 THE MASTER OF GAME 

mallows and of the onions and of white lilies, 1 
and cut them small with a knife, and put them in 
a ladle of iron and mingle these herbs whereof I 
speak, and lay them upon the sores, and that shall 
make them rise, and when they be risen, slit them 
with a sharp knife. And when they be so broken, 
lay upon them some good drawing salve, and he 
be whole. Sometimes the hounds fight and bite 
each other, and then they shall take sheep's wool 
unwashed, and a little olive oil, and wet the wool 
in the oil, and lay it upon the hound's wound, and 
bind it thereupon, and do so three days, and then 
after twice each day anoint it with olive oil, and 
lay nothing upon it. And he shall lick it with his 
tongue and heal himself. 2 If peradventure in the 
wound come worms as I have seen some time, 
every day ye shall pick them out with a stick, and 
ye shall put in the wound the juice of leaves of a 
peach tree mingled with quicklime until the time 
that they be whole. Also it happeneth to many 
hounds that they smite the forelegs against the 
hinder wherefore their thighs dry 3 and be lost 

1 Lilies. The white lilies here mentioned are probably 
Lilium connalium (lilies of the valley). In an old book of 
recipes I find them mentioned as an antidote to poison. {Haus 
und Laud Bib. 1700.) They have medicinal qualities, purgative 
and diuretic in effect. Dried and powdered they become a 
sternutatory. 

2 In the Shirley MS. there is added: "the hound tongue 
beareth medicine and especially to himself." G. de F. has the 
same (p. 97). 3 Wither or dry up. 



OF SICKNESSES OF HOUNDS 103 

thereby, and then if ye see that it last them longer 
than three days that they set not their foot to the 
earth, then slit ye the thigh along and athwart 
within the thigh, crosswise upon the bone, that is 
upon the turn bone of the knee behind, and then 
put thereupon wool wet in olive oil as before is 
said, for three whole days. And then after anoint 
the wound with oil without binding as I have said, 
and he shall heal himself with his tongue. Some- 
times a hound is evil astyfled, 1 so that he shall 
sometime abide half a year or more ere he be well, 
and if he be not so tended he will never recover. 
Then it needeth that ye let him long sojourn 
until the time that he be whole, until he is no 
longer halting, that is that one thigh be no greater 
than the other. And if he may not be all whole, 
do to him as men do to a horse that is spauled in 
the shoulder in front, draw throughout a cord of 
horsehair 2 and he shall be whole. Sometimes an 
evil befalls in the ballock purse, 3 sometimes from 
too long hunting or from long journeys, or from 
rupture, 4 or sometimes when bitches be jolly, and 

1 Inflammation of the stifle joint. 

2 Setofi. G. de F. (p. 98) says : " une ortie et un sedel de 
corde." His word sedel came from the Spanish sedal. The 
English "seton" comes from seta, a hair, because hair was 
originally employed as the inserted material. 

3 Testicles. 

4 The following words, which are in Shirley MS. and in G. 
de F., are left out : " some tyme for they more foundeth as 
an hors." 



io 4 THE MASTER OF GAME 

they may not come to them at their ease as they 
would, and that the humours runneth into the 
ballocks, and sometimes when they be smitten 
upon in hunting or in other places. To this sick- 
ness and to all others in that manner, the best 
help is for to make a purse of cloth three or four 
times double, and take linseed and put it within, 
and put it in a pot, and let it mingle with wien, 
and let them well boil together, and mix it always 
with a stick, and when it is well boiled put it 
within the purse that I spoke of, as hot as the 
hound may suffer it, and put his ballocks in that 
purse, and bind it with a band betwixt the thighs 
above the back, make well fast the ballocks up- 
wards, and leave a hole in the cloth for to put 
out the tail and his anus, and another hole before 
for the yerde so that he may scombre and piss 
and renew that thing once or twice until the time 
that he be whole. Also it is a well good thing 
for a man or for a horse that hath this sickness. 1 

1 The Shirley MS. has the following ending to this chapter : 
"And God forbid that for (a) little labour or cost of this 
medicine, man should see his good kind hound perish, that 
before hath made him so many comfortable disports at divers 
times in hunting," which is not taken from G. de F. 



CHAPTER XIV 

OF RUNNING HOUNDS AND OF THEIR NATURE 

A running hound is a kind of hound there be 
few men that have not seen some of them. Never- 
theless I shall devise how a running hound shall 
be held for good and fair, and also shall I devise 
of their manners. Of all hues of running hounds, 
there are some which be good, and some which 
be bad or evil as of greyhounds. But the best 
hue of running hounds and most common for to 
be good, is called brown tan. Also the goodness 
of running hounds, and of all other kinds of good 
hounds, cometh of true courage and of the good 
nature of their good father and of their good 
mother. And also as touching greyhounds, men 
may well help to make them good by teaching as 
by leading them to the wood and to fields, and to 
be always near them, in making of many good 
curées when they have done well, and of rating at 
and beating them when they have done amiss, for 
they are beasts, and therefore have they need to 
learn that which men will they should do. A 
running hound should be well born, and well 

grown of body, and should have great nostrils and 

105 



io6 THE MASTER OF GAME 

open, and a long snout, but not small, and great 
lips and well hanging down, and great eyes red or 
black, and a great forehead and great head, and 
large ears, well long and well hanging down, broad 
and near the head, a great neck, and a great breast 
and great shoulders, and great legs and strong, 
and not too long, and great feet, round and great 
claws, and the foot a little low, small flanks and 
long sides, a little pintel not long, small hanging 
ballocks and well trussed together, a good chine 
bone and great back, good thighs, and great hind 
legs and the hocks straight and not bowed, the 
tail great and high, and not cromping up on the 
back, but straight and a little cromping upward. 
Nevertheless' I have seen some running hounds 
with great hairy tails the which were very good. 
Running hounds hunt in divers manners, for some 
followeth the hart fast at the first, for they go 
lightly and fast and when they have run so awhile, 
they have hied them so fast that they be relaxed 
and all breathless, and stop still and leave the hart 
when they should chase him. This kind of run- 
ning hounds men should find usually in the land 
of Basco and Spain. They are right good for the 
wild boar, but are not good for the hart, for they 
be not good to enchase at a long flight, but only 
for to press him, for they seek not well, and they 
run not well nor they hunt not (well) from a 
distance, for they be accustomed to hunt close. 



HOUNDS AND THEIR NATURE 107 

And at the beginning they have shown their best. 
Other manners of running hounds there are which 
hunt a good deal more slowly and heavily, but as 
they begin, so they hold on all the day. These 
hounds force not so soon a hart as the other, but 
they bring him best by mastery and strength to 
his end, for they retrieve and scent the line better 
and farther, because they are somewhat slow. 
They must hunt the hart from farther off, and 
therefore they scent the fues better than the other 
that goes so hastily without stopping until the 
time that they be weary. A bold hound should 
never complain or howl, unless if he were out of 
the rights. And also he should again seek the 
rights, for a hart flieth and ruseth. Commonly 
a bold hound hunteth with the wind when he seeth 
his time. He dreads his master and understands 
him and does as he bids him. A bold hound 
should not leave the hart neither for rain, nor for 
heat, nor for cold, nor for any evil weather, but 
at this time there be few such, and also should 
he hunt the hart well by himself without help of 
man, as if the man were always with him. But alas! 
I know not now any such hounds. Hounds there 
are which be bold and brave; and be called bold 
for they are bold and good for the hart, for when 
the hart comes in danger 1 they will chase him, 

1 Danger of his being lost to the hounds. 



io8 THE MASTER OF GAME 

but they will not open * nor quest while he is 
among the change, for dread to envoyse 2 and do 
amiss, but when they have dissevered 3 him, then 
they will open and hunt him and should over- 
come the hart well, and perfectly and masterfully 
throughout all the change. These hounds be not 
so good nor so perfect as be the bold hounds before 
said to most men for two reasons, 4 that one reason 
is for they hunt not at men's best pleasure for they 
hunt nought but the hart, and the first bold hound 
hunts all manner of beasts that his master will 
uncouple him to. He opens always through all 
the changes, and a bold hound for the hart opens 
not for the hart, as I have said when the hart is 
amid the changes. He dreadeth where he goeth 
that men see him lest he do amiss or envoise, but 
men cannot always see him. 5 Of this kind of 
hound have I seen many a one. There be other 

1 Challenge — i.e. the noise the hounds make on finding the 
scent of an animal. 

2 Get off the line. 

3 Separated him from the other deer. 

4 From here to the middle of the 13th line on the next page 
the text is copied from the Shirley MS., the scribe who wrote 
the Vespasian B. XII. MS. having made a mistake in his 
transcript, copying on folio 65 the folio 64, which therefore 
appears twice over, to the exclusion of the matter here copied 
from the Shirley MS. 

5 This sentence is difficult to understand without consulting 
G. de F. (p. no), who says : "as the hound does not challenge 
when the stag is with change, one does not know where he is 
going unless one sees him, and one cannot always see him." 



HOUNDS AND THEIR NATURE 109 

kinds of hounds which men beyond the sea call 
hart hounds, good and restrained hart hounds. 1 
They hunt no other beast but the hart, and there- 
fore they are called hart hounds and bold hounds, 
for they be bold and good and wise for the hart ; 
they be called restrained, because if the hart fall 
among the change they should abide still 2 until 
the hunter come, and when they see their master 
they make him welcome, and wag their tails upon 
him, and will by-piss the way and the bushes, 
but in England men make them not so. These be 
good hounds of our land, but not so good as the 
bold hounds aforesaid. They be well wise, for they 
know well that they should not hunt the change, 
and they are not so wise as to dissever the hart 
from the change, for they abide still and restive. 
These hounds I hold full good, for the hunter 
that knows them may well help them to slay the 
hart. None of all these three kinds of hounds 
hunt at the hart in rutting time, unless it be the 
good bold hound, 3 which is the best of all other 
hounds. The best sport that men can have is 
running with hounds, for if he hunt at hare or 
at the roe or at buck or at the hart, or at any other 

1 G. de F. : " cerfs baus restifz " is the name which he gives 
these hounds. 

2 G. de F. adds : "and remain quite quiet." 

3 " Le chien baud, 15 G. de F., p. ni. See Appendix : Run- 
ning Hounds. 



no THE MASTER OF GAME 

beast without greyhound x it is a fair thing, and 
pleasant to him that loveth them ; the seeking 
and the finding is also a fair thing, and a great 
liking to slay them with strength, and for to see 
the wit and the knowledge that God hath given 
to good hounds, and for to see good recovering 
and retrieving, and the mastery and the subtleties 
that be in good hounds. For with greyhounds 
and with other kinds of hounds whatever they be, 
the sport lasteth not, for anon a good greyhound 
or a good alaunte taketh or faileth a beast, and so 
do all manner of hounds save running hounds, 
the which must hunt all the day questeying and 
making great melody in their language and saying 
great villainy and chiding the beasts that they 
chase. And therefore I prefer them to all other 
kinds of hounds, for they have more virtue it 
seems to me than any other beast. Other kind 
of hounds there be the which open and jangle 
when they are uncoupled, as well when they be 
not in her fues (on their line), and when they 
be in her fues they questey 2 too much in seeking 
their chase whatever it be, and if they learn the 
habit when they are young and are not chastised 

1 The text of the MS. differs from G. de F., who says if one 
hunts stags "ou autres bestes en traillant sans limier" (drawing 
from them without having first harboured them with a lymer), 
and does not say "without greyhounds" ; p. m. 

2 G. de F. has here : " Ils crient trop en quérant leur beste 
quelle que soit," p. m. 



HOUNDS AND THEIR NATURE in 

thereof, they will evermore be noisy and wild, 
and namely when they seek their chase, for when 
the chase is found, the hounds cannot questey too 
much so that they be in the fues. 1 And to rente 
and make hounds there are many remedies. There 
be also] many kinds of running hounds, some small 
and some big, and the small be called kenets, and 
these hounds run well to all manner of game, and 
they {that) serve for all game men call them harriers? 
And every hound that hath that courage will come to 
be a harrier by nature with little making. But they 
need great nature and making in youth, and great 
labour to make a hound run boldly to a chase where 
there is great change, or other chases. Hounds 
which are not perfectly wise take the change 
commonly from May until St. John's tide (June 
24th), for then they find the change of hinds. 
The hinds will not fly far before the hounds, but 
they turn about and the hound sees them very 
often, and therefore they run to them with a 
better will, because they keep near their calves the 
which cannot fly, therefore they hunt them gladly ; 
and commonly when the harts go to rut, hounds 
hunt the change, for the harts and the hinds be 
commonly standing in herds together, and so they 

1 "The hounds cannot challenge too loudly when they are 
on the line." G. de F. : " Chien ne peut trop crier," p. 112. 

2 From Mid. Eng. harien, harren, to harry or worry game. 
See Appendix : Harrier. 



ii2 THE MASTER OF GAME 

find them and run to them sooner than at any 
other time of the year. Also the hounds scent 
worse from May until St. John's time than in 
any other time of all the year, for as I shall say 
the burnt heath and the burning of fields taketh 
away the scent from the hounds of the beasts that 
they hunt. Also in that time the herbs be best 
and flowers in their smelling, each one in their 
kind, and when the hounds hope to scent the beast 
that they hunt, the sweet-smelling of the herbs 
takes the scent of the beast from them. 



CHAPTER XV 

OF GREYHOUNDS AND OF THEIR NATURE 

The greyhound is a kind of hound there be few 
which have not seen some. Nevertheless for to 
devise how a greyhound should be held for good 
and fair, I shall devise their manner. Of all 
manner of greyhounds there be both good and 
bad, nevertheless the best hue is red fallow with 
a black muzzle. The goodness of greyhounds 
comes of right courage, and of the good nature 
of their father and their mother. And also men 
may well help to make them good in the encharn- 
ing 1 of them with other good greyhounds, and feed 
them well with the best that he taketh. The 
good greyhound should be of middle size, neither 
too big nor too little, and then he is good for all 
beasts. If he were too big he is nought for small 
beasts, and if he were too little he were nought 
for the great beasts. Nevertheless whoso can 
maintain both, it is good that he have both of the 
great and of the small, and of the middle size. 
A greyhound should have a long head and some- 

1 Encharning, feed with the flesh of game, to blood. 



"3 



H 



ii4 THE MASTER OF GAME 

what large made, resembling the making of a 
bace 1 (pike). A good large mouth and good 
seizers the one against the other, so that the 
nether jaw pass not the upper, nor that the upper 
pass not the nether. Their eyes are red or black 
as those of a sparrow hawk, the ears small and 
high in the manner of a serpent, the neck great 
and long bowed like a swan's neck, his chest great 
and open, the hair under his chyn hanging down 
in the manner of a lion. 2 His shoulders as a 
roebuck, the forelegs straight and great enough 
and not too high in the legs, the feet straight and 
round as a cat, great claws, long head as a cow 3 
hanging down. 

The bones and the joints of the chine great 
and hard like the chine of a hart. And if his 
chine be a little high it is better than if it were 
flat. A little pintel and little ballocks, and well 
trussed near the ars, small womb, 4 the hocks 
straight and not bent as of an ox, a cat's tail 

1 Should be " luce," and G. de F. has " luz," from Lat. lucius, 
pike, p. 103. 

2 G. de F., p. 104, says : "La harpe bien avalée en guise de 
lion," harpe meaning in this instance " flanks." 

3 "Long head as a cow" is evidently a mistake of translator 
or scribe. G. de F. has : " le costé lone comme une biche et 
bien avalé" ("the sides long as a hind, and hanging down 
well"). 

4 The following words should be added here, a line having 
been omitted by the scribe : "and straight near the back as a 
lamprey, the thighs great and straight as a hare." They are 
in Shirley MS. and G. de F., p. 104. 




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vDpdp^cs ccutfcOulamcr crue coure fauauttt. 



THE SMOOTH AND THE ROUGH-COATED GREYHOUNDS 

(From MS. f. fr. 616, Bib. XaL, Paris) 



GREYHOUNDS: THEIR NATURE 115 

making a ring at the end and not too high, the 
two bones of the chine behind broad of a large 
palm's breadth or more. Also there are many 
good greyhounds with long tails right swift. A 
good greyhound should go so fast that if he be 
well slipped he should overtake any beast, and 
there where he overtakes it he should seize it 
where he can get at it the soonest, nevertheless he 
shall last longer if he bite in front or by the side} 
He should be courteous and not too fierce, 
following well his master and doing whatever he 
command him. He shall be good and kindly 
and clean, glad and joyful and playful, well will- 
ing and goodly to all manner of folks save to the 
wild beasts to whom he should be fierce, spiteful 
and eager. 

1 In lieu of this original passage G. de F., p. 105, has : " sans 
abayer, et sans marchander" (" without baying or bargaining"). 



CHAPTER XVI 

OF ALAUNTES AND OF THEIR NATURE 

An alaunte is of the manner and nature of hounds. 
And the good alauntes be those which men call 
alauntes gentle. Others there be that men call 
alauntes veutreres, others be alauntes of the 
butcheries. They that be gentle should be made 
and shaped as a greyhound, even of all things save 
of the head, the which should be great and short. 
And though there be alauntes of all hues, the true 
hue of a good alaunte, and that which is most 
common should be white with black spots about 
the ears, small eyes and white standing ears and 
sharp above. Men should teach' alauntes better, 
and to be of better custom than any other beasts, 
for he is better shaped and stronger for to do 
harm than any other beast. And also commonly 
alauntes are stordy * (giddy) of their own nature 
and have not such good sense as many other 
hounds have, for if a man prick 2 a horse the 

1 G. de F. has " estourdiz," which the " Master of Game " 
translates as " stordy " or sturdy, but the modern sense would 
be hairbrained, giddy, not sturdy. 

2 Means chase a horse. G. de F. says : " Se on court un 
cheval, ils le prennent voulentiers," p. ioo. 

116 



ALAUNTES AND THEIR NATURE 117 

alauntes will run gladly and bite the horse. Also 
they run at oxen and sheep, and swine, and at all 
other beasts, or at men or at other hounds. For 
men have seen alauntes slay their masters. In 
all manner of ways alauntes are treacherous and 
evil understanding, and more foolish and more 
harebrained than any other kind of hound. And 
no one ever saw three well conditioned and good. 
For the good alaunte should run as fast as a grey- 
hound, and any beast that he can catch he should 
hold with his seizers and not leave it. For an 
alaunte of his nature holds faster of his biting 
than can three greyhounds the best any man can 
find. And therefore it is the best hound to hold 
and to nyme (seize) all manner of beasts and hold 
them fast. And when he is well conditioned and 
perfect, men hold that he is good among all 
other hounds. But men find few that be perfect. 
A good alaunte should love his master and follow 
him, and help him in all cases, and do what his 
master commands him. A good alaunte should 
go fast and be hardy to take all kinds of beasts 
without turning, and hold fast and not leave it, 
and be well conditioned, and well at his master's 
command, and when he is such^ men hold, as I have 
said, that he is the best hound that can be to take 
all manner of beasts. That other kind of alaunte is 
called veutreres. They are almost shaped as a 
greyhound of full shape, they have a great head, 



n8 THE MASTER OF GAME 

great lips and great ears, and with such men help 
themselves at the baiting of the bull and at hunting 
of a wild boar, for it is their nature to hold fast, 
but they be (heavy) and foul (ugly) that if they be 
slain by the wild boar or by the bull, it is not very 
great loss. And when they can overtake a beast 
they bite it and hold it still, but by themselves 
they could never take a beast unless greyhounds 
were with them to make the beast tarry. That 
other kind of alauntes of the butcheries is such as 
you may always see in good towns, that are called 
great butchers' hounds, the which the butchers keep 
to help them to bring their beasts that they buy in 
the country, for if an ox escape from the butchers 
that lead him, his hounds would go and take him 
and hold him until his master has come, and 
should help him to bring him again to the town. 
They cost little to keep as they eat the foul things 
in the butcher's row. Also they keep their master's 
house, they be good for bull baiting and for hunt- 
ing wild boar, whether it be with greyhounds at 
the tryst or with running hounds at bay within the 
covert. For when a wild boar is within a strong 
hatte of wood (thicket), perhaps all day the running 
hounds will not make him come out. And when 
men let such mastiffs run at the boar they take 
him in the thick spires (wood) so that any man 
can slay him, or they make him come out of his 
strength, so that he shall not remain long at bay. 



CHAPTER XVII 

OF SPANIELS AND OF THEIR NATURE 

Another kind of hound there is that be called 
hounds for the hawk and spaniels, for their kind 
cometh from Spain, notwithstanding that there 
are many in other countries. And such hounds 
have many good customs and evil. Also a fair 
hound for the hawk should have a great head, a 
great body and be of fair hue, white or tawny, 
for they be the fairest, and of such hue they be 
commonly best. A good spaniel should not be 
too rough, but his tail should be rough. The 
good qualities that such hounds have are these : 
they love well their masters and follow them 
without losing, although they be in a great crowd 
of men, and commonly they go before their 
master, running and wagging their tail, and raise 
or start fowl and wild beasts. But their right 
craft is of the partridge and of the quail. It is a 
good thing to a man that hath a noble goshawk 
or a tiercel or a sparrow hawk for partridge, to 
have such hounds. And also when they be 



i2o THE MASTER OF GAME 

taught to be couchers, 1 they be good to take 
partridges and quail with a net. And also they 
be good when they are taught to swim and to be 
good for the river, and for fowls when they have 
dived, but on the other hand they have many 
bad qualities like the country that they come 
from. For a country draweth to two natures of 
men, of beasts, and of fowls, and as men call 
greyhounds of Scotland and of Britain, 2 so the 
alauntes and the hounds for the hawk come out 
of Spain, and they take after the nature of the 
generation of which they come. Hounds for 
the hawk are fighters and great barkers if you 
lead them a hunting among running hounds, 
whatever beasts they hunt to they will make 
them lose the line, for they will go before now 
hither now thither, as much when they are at 
fault as when they go right, and lead the hounds 
about and make them overshoot and fail. Also 
if you lead greyhounds with you, and there be a 
hound for the hawk, that is to say a spaniel, if he 
see geese or kine, or horses, or hens, or oxen or 
other beasts, he will run anon and begin to bark 
at them, and because of him all the greyhounds 
will run to take the beast through his egging on, 

1 Setters, from coucher, to lie down. G. de F.: "chien 
couchant" (p. 113). 

2 Brittany. In Shirley MS. " England " precedes " Scotland." 
G. de F. says nothing about Scotland. He says " Bretainhe," 
meaning Brittany (p. 113). 



SPANIELS AND THEIR NATURE 121 

for he will make all the riot and all the harm. 
The hounds for the hawk have so many other evil 
habits that unless I had a goshawk or falcon or 
hawks for the river, or sparrow hawk, or the net, 
I would never have any, especially there where I 
would hunt. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

OF THE MASTIFF AND OF HIS NATURE 

A mastiff is a manner of hound. The mastiff's 
nature and his office is to keep his master's beasts 
and his master's house,, and it is a good kind of 
hound, for they keep and defend with all their 
power all their master's goods. They be of a 
churlish nature and ugly shape. Nevertheless 
there are some that come to be berslettis^ and also 
to bring well and fast and wanlace (range) about} 
Sometimes there be many good, especially for men 
who hunt for profit of the household to get flesh. 
Also of mastiffs and alaunts there be (bred) many 
good for the wild boar. Also from mastiffs and 
hounds for the hawk (there be bred) hounds that 
men should not make much mention of, therefore I 
will no more speak of them, for there is no great 
mastery nor great readiness in the hunting that 
they do, for their nature is not to be tenderly nosed. 

1 Bercellettis or bercelettes, hounds, most likely shooting 
dogs, from berser, to shoot, bercel, an archer's butt. 

2 Wanlasour, one who drives game. Appendix : Wanlace. 



CHAPTER XIX 

WHAT MANNER AND CONDITION A GOOD 
HUNTER SHOULD HAVE. 

Thou, Sir, whatever you be, great or little, that 
would teach a man to be a good hunter, first he 
must be a child past seven or eight years of age 
or little older, and if any man would say that I 
take a child in too tender age for to put him to 
work, I answer that all nature shortens and 
descends. For every man knoweth well that a 
child of seven years of age is more capable in 
these times of such things that he liketh to learn 
than was a child of twelve years of age (in times 
that I have seen). And therefore I put him so 
young thereto, for a craft requires all a man's life 
ere he be perfect thereof. And also men say that 
which a man learns in youth he will hold best in 
his age. And furthermore from this child many 
things are required, first that he. love his master, 
and that his heart and his business be with the 
hounds, and he must take 1 him, and beat him 
when he will not do what his master commands 

1 " Take " is probably the scribe's mistake for " tache," teach. 
123 



i2 4 THE MASTER OF GAME 

him, until the time that the child dreads to fail. 
And first I shall take and teach him for to take in 
writing all the names of the hounds and of the 
hues of the hounds, until the time that the child 
knoweth them both by the hue and by the name. 
After I will teach him to make clean every day 
in the morning the hounds' kennel of all foul 
things. After I will learn him to put before them 
twice a day fresh water and clean, from a well, in 
a vessel there where the hound drinks, or fair 
running water, in the morning and the evening. 
After I will teach him that once in the day he empty 
the kennel and make all clean, and renew their 
straw, and put again fresh new straw a great deal 
and right thick. And there where he layeth it the 
hounds should lie, and the place where they should 
lie should be made of trees a foot high from the 
earth, and then straw should be laid thereupon, 
because the moisture of the earth should not make 
them morfounder nor engender other sicknesses 
by the which they might be worse for hunting. 
Also that he be both at field and at wood delivered 
(active) and well eyed and well advised of his speech 
and of his terms, and ever glad to learn and that he 
be no boaster nor jangle r. 



CHAPTER XX 

HOW THE KENNEL FOR THE HOUNDS AND THE 
COUPLES FOR THE RACHES AND THE ROPES 
FOR THE LYMER SHOULD BE MADE 

The hounds' kennel should be ten fathoms in 
length and five in breadth, if there be many hounds. 
And there should be one door in front and one 
behind, and a fair green, where the sun shineth all 
day from morning till eve, and that green should 
be closed about with a paling or with a wall of 
earth or of stone of the same length and breadth 
as the hounds' kennel is. And the hinder door of 
the kennel should always be open so that the 
hounds may go out to play when they like, for it 
is a great liking to the hounds when they may 
go in and out at their pleasure, for the mange 
comes to them later. 1 In the kennel should be 
pitched small stones wrapped about with straw 
of the hounds' litter, unto the number of six 
stones, that the hounds might piss against them. 
Also a kennel should have a gutter or two where- 
by all the piss of the hounds and all the other 

1 They are not likely to get the mange so soon. 
125 



126 THE MASTER OF GAME 

water may run out that none remains in the kennel. 
The kennel should also be in a low house, and not 
in a solere (an upper chamber), but there should 
be a loft above, so that it might be warmer in 
winter and cooler in summer, and always by night 
and by day I would that some child lie or be in 
the kennel with the hounds to keep them from 
fighting. Also in the kennel should be a chimney 
to warm the hounds when they are cold or when 
they are wet with rain or from passing and swim- 
ming over rivers. And also he should be taught 
to spin horse hair to make couples for the hounds, 
which should be made of a horse tail or a mare's 
tail, for they are best and last longer than if they 
were of hemp or of wool. And the length of the 
hounds' couples between the hounds should be a 
foot, and the rope of a limer three fathoms and 
a half, be he ever so wise a limer it sufficeth. 
The which rope should be made of leather of a horse 
skin well tawed. 



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tl toirclnc tenu . 

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gratw a oie totfcsor ouuuir-tomnuriJcioRçct 

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fc il pa guuir fopfon ûc rf tic lapwrc teniae rci luours 

dnau.fr coirauoic ouucm. a nu que les cln ens 

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tic fouac.€ctturauo m sic p:acl qiuutrtair piaua. 

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piacKouquciicColcu fc u>i* /ufliiru-prucur ciicrtrimucc 

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ftrl>ic-î 



THE KENNEL AND KENNELMEN 
(From MS. f. fr. 616, £#. Nat., Paris) 



CHAPTER XXI 

HOW THE HOUNDS SHOULD BE LED OUT TO 
SCOMBRE 

Also I will teach * the child to lead out the hounds 
to scombre twice in the day in the morning and 
in the evening, so that the sun be up, especially 
in winter. Then should he let them run and play 
long in a fair meadow in the sun, and then comb 
every hound after the other, and wipe them with 
a great wisp of straw, and thus he shall do every 
morning. And then shall he lead them into some 
fair place there where tender grass grows as corn 
and other things, that therewith they may feed 
them (selves) as it is medicine for them, for some- 
times hounds are sick and with the grass that they 
eat they void and heal themselves. 

1 The first four words are omitted in our MS., but they are 
in the Shirley MS. and in others, and in G. de F. 



127 



CHAPTER XXII 

HOW A HUNTER'S HORN SHOULD BE DRIVEN 

7 "here are divers kinds of horns, that is to say bugles, 
great Abbot's, hunter s horns, Ruets (trumpets), 
small Forester s horns and meaner horns of two 
kinds. That one kind is waxed with green wax 
and greater of sound, and they be best for good 
hunters, therefore will I devise how and in what 
fashion they should be driven. First a good hunter s 
horn should be driven of two spans in length, and 
not much more nor much less, and not too crooked 
neither too straight, but that the flue be three or 
four fingers up-permore than the head, that unlearned 1 
hunters call the great end of the horn. And also 
that it be as great and hollow driven as it can for 
the length, and that it be shorter on the side of the 
baldric' 1 than at the nether end. And that the 
head be as wide as it can be, and always driven 
smaller and smaller to the flue, and that it be well 
waxed thicker or thinner according as the hunter 
thinks that it will sound best. And that it be the 

1 Shirley MS.: "lewed," i.e. laewed or unlearned (Strat- 
mann). 

2 Baldric, the belt on which the horn was carried. 



A HUNTER'S HORN 129 

length of the horn from the flue to the binding, and 
also that it be not too small driven from the binding 
to the flue, for if it be the horn will be too mean of 
sound. As for horns for fewterers x and woodmen, 
I speak not for every small horn and other mean 
horn unwaxed be good enough for them. 

1 Fewterer, the man who held the greyhounds in slips or 
couples. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

HOW A MAN SHOULD LEAD HIS GROOM IN QUEST 
FOR TO KNOW A HART BY HIS TRACE 

Then should his groom lead his lymer (tracking 
hound) in quest after him in the morning, and 
teach him to know what difference is between a 
hart's trace and a hind's. As I have said before, 
this word quest is a term of hart hunters beyond the 
sea, and is as much for to say as when the hunter 
goeth to find of a hart and to harbour him. For to 
know a great hart's trace from a young, and to 
know the trace of a young deer of antler from a 
hind's, and how many judgments and what know- 
ledge there be, and for to make more certain 
thereof, he should have an old hart's foot and a 
young hart's and a hind's foot also, and should 
put it in hard earth and in soft, and once put it 
fast in the earth as though the hart were hunted 
and another time soft, as if the hart went a pase 
(slowly), thereby he may advise him to know the 
differences of a hart's feet, and he shall find that 
there is no deer so young if he be from a brocket 
upwards, that his talon (heel) is not larger and 

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HOW TO KNOW A HART 131 

hath a hind, and commonly longer traces. Never- 
theless there are some hounds well traced, which 
have the sole of the foot as a staggard or a small 
stag, but the talon and the ergots are not so great 
nor so large. Also a great hart and an old one 
has a better sole to his foot, and a better talon 
and better bones and greater and larger than has 
a young deer or hind. And so in putting in the 
earth the hart's foot and the hind's foot as I have 
said, he shall know the difference and better than 
I can devise. And also the hinds commonly have 
their traces more hollow than a staggard or a stag, 
and more open the cleeves (toes) in front than 
a hart of ten, for of the others reck I never. 
The judgment is in the talon (when it is great 
and large ; and in the sole of the foot) 1 when it 
is great and broad, and the point of the foot 
broad. And men have seen a great hart and an 
old one, the which had hollow traces, and that 
cannot matter so that he hath the other signs 
before said. For a hollow trace and sharp cleeves 
betoken no other thing than that the country the 
hart hath haunted is a soft country or hard, and 
where there be but few stones, or that he has been 
hunted but little. And also if a" man find such a 
hart, and men ask him what hart it is, he may answer 

1 The words in brackets have been omitted in our MS. but 
are in the Shirley MS. and G. de F. p. 129 ; they have been 
thus inserted to complete the sense. 



132 THE MASTER OF GAME 

that it is a hart chaceable of ten, that should not 
be refused. And if he sees an hart's foot that 
hath these signs aforesaid the which are great and 
broad, he may say that it is an hart that some 
time had borne ten tines, and if he see that the 
aforesaid signs are greater and broader he may 
say that it is a great hart and an old (one), and 
this is all he may say of the hart. Also he should 
call the foot of the hart the trace, and of the 
wild boar also. Also the hunters of beyond the sea 
call of an hart and of a boar the routes and 
the pace (path) and both is one. Nevertheless 
pace, they call their goings where a beast goes 
in the routes, there where he has passed, never- 
theless I would not set this in my book, but for 
as much as I would E?iglish hunters should know 
some of the terms that hunters use beyond the sea, 
but not with intent to call them so in England. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

HOW A MAN SHOULD KNOW A GREAT HART 
BY THE FUMES 1 

After I shall teach you to know a great hart 
by the fumes of the hart, for sometimes they 
crotey in wreaths, and sometimes flat and some- 
times formed, and sometimes sharp at both ends, 
and sometimes pressed together, and sometime in 
many other manners as I have said before. When 
they crotey flat and it be in April or in May or in 
June if the croteyes be great and thick it is a 
token that it is a hart chaceable, and if he find 
the fumes wreathed, and it be from the middle of 
June to the middle of August in great forms and 
in great wreaths and well soft, it is a token that 
it is a hart chaceable, and if he find the fumes 
that are formed and not holding together as it 
is from the beginning of July into the end of 
August, if they are great and black and long and 
are not sharp at the ends, and are heavy and dry 
without slime, it is a token that it is a hart chace- 
able. And if the fumes are faint and light and 

1 See Appendix : Excrements. 

133 



134 THE MASTER OF GAME 

full of slime, or sharp at both ends, or at one end, 
these are the tokens that he is no deer chaceable. 
But if it be when they burnish that they crotey 
their fumes more burnt and more sharp at the 
one end, but anon when they have burnished, 
they crotey their fumes as before, and for that 
the fumes be good and great ; if they be slimy it 
is a token that he has suffered some disease. 
From the end of August forward, the fumes are 
of no judgment for they undo themselves for 
the rut. 



CHAPTER XXV 

HOW A MAN SHOULD KNOW A GREAT HART BY 
THE PLACE WHERE HE HATH FRAYED HIS 
HEAD 

Furthermore ye should know a great hart by 
the fraying (for if ye find where the hart hath 
frayed), 1 and see that the wood is great where he 
hath frayed, and he hath not bent it, and the tree 
is frayed well high, and he hath frayed the bark 
away, and broken the branches and wreathed 
them a good height, and if the branches are of a 
good size, it is a sign that he is a great hart and 
that he should bear a high head and well troched, 
for by the troching 2 he breaketh such high the 
boughs that he cannot fold them under him. 
For if the fraying were bare and he had frayed the 
boughs under him, it is no token that it be a 
great hart, and especially if the trees where he 
had frayed were small. Nevertheless men have 
seen some great deer fray sometimes to a little 
tree, but not commonly, but a young deer shall 

1 The words in brackets are omitted in our MS. but are in 
the Shirley MS. and in G. de F. p. 132. 

2 The tines at top. See Appendix : Antler. 



136 THE MASTER OF GAME 

ever more 1 fray to a great tree, and therefore 
should ye look at several frayings. And if ye 
see the aforesaid tokens oftener upon the great 
trees than upon the small ye may deem him a 
great hart. And if the frayings be continually 
in small trees and low, he is not chaceable and 
should be refused. Also ye may know a great 
hart by his lairs. When a great hart shall come 
in the morning from his pasture, he shall go to 
his lair and then a great while after he shall rise 
and go elsewhere there where he would abide all 
the day. Then when ye shall rise and come to 
the lair there where the hart hath lain and rested, 
if ye see it great and broad and well trodden and 
the grass well pressed down, and at the rising 
when he passeth out of his lair, if ye see that the 
foot and the knees have well thrust down the 
earth and pressed the grass down it is a token 
that it is a great deer and a heavy (one). And if 
at the rising he make no such tokens, because 
that he hath been there but a little while, so that 
his lair be long and broad ye may deem him a hart 
chaceable. Also ye may know a great hart by the 
bearing of the wood, for when a great hart hath 
a high head and a large (one) and goeth through 
a thick wood, he findeth the young wood and 

1 Ever more is here a mistake ; it should be never more. 
G. de F. says : " Mes jeune cerf ne froyera jà en gros arbre " 
(p. 132). Also in the Shirley MS. 



HOW TO KNOW A GREAT HART 137 

tender boughs, his head is harder than the wood, 
then he breaketh the wood aside and mingleth 
the boughs one upon the other, for he beareth 
them and putteth them otherwise than they were 
wont to be by their own kind. And when the 
glades of the woods are high and broad then he 
may deem him a great hart, for if he had not a 
high head and wide he could not make his ways 
high and large. If it happen so that ye find 
such glades and have no lymer with you, if ye 
will know at what time this glade was made, ye 
must set your visage in the middle of this glade, 
and keep your breath, in the best wise that ye 
may, and if ye find that the spider hath made her 
web in the middle of them, it is a token that it 
is of no good time * or at the least it is of the 
middle (of the noon) of the day before. Never- 
theless ye should fetch your lymer for so ye 
should know better. Also ye may know a great 
hart by the steps that in England is called trace. 
And that is called stepping, 2 when he steppeth in 
a place where the grass is well thick, so that the 
man may not see therein the form of the foot, or 
when he steppeth in other places, where no grass 
is but dust or sand and hard country, where 
fallen leaves or other things hinder to see the 

1 Not of " good time " means in the old sporting vocabulary 
an old track, not a recent one. 

2 G. de F. calls the track of deer on grass "foulées" from 
which the modern " foil," " stepping on grass," is derived. 



138 THE MASTER OF GAME 

form of the foot. And when the hart steppeth 
upon the grass and ye cannot see the stepping with 
your eyes, then ye shall put your hand in the 
form of the foot that hunters call the trace, and 
if ye see that the form of the foot be of four 
fingers of breadth, ye may judge that it is a great 
hart by the trace. And if the sole of the foot be 
of three fingers' breadth ye may judge him a hart 
of ten, and if ye see that he hath well broken 
the earth and trodden well the grass, it is a token 
that it is a great hart and a heavy deer. And if 
ye cannot well see it for the hardness of the 
earth, or for the dust, then ye must stoop down 
for to take away the dust and blow it away from 
the form of the foot until the time that ye may 
clearly see the form that is called the trace. And 
if ye cannot see it in one place, ye should follow 
the trace until the time that ye can well see it at 
your ease. And if ye can see none in any place, 
ye should put your hand in the form of the foot, 
for then ye shall find how the earth is broke with 
the cleeves of the foot on either side, and then ye 
can judge it for a great hart or a hart chaceable, 
as I have said before by the treading of the grass ; 
and if leaves or other things be within the form 
that ye may not see at your ease, ye should take 
away the leaves all softly or the other things with 
your hands, so that ye undo not the form of the 
foot and blow within and do the other things as I 



HOW TO KNOW A GREAT HART 139 

have before said. 1 (After I will tell you how a 
man shall speak among good hunters of the office 
of venery.) First he shall speak but a little, and 
boast little, and well (work 2 ) and subtlely, and he 
must be wise and do his craft busily, for a hunter 
should not be a herald of his craft. And if it 
happen that he be among good hunters that 
speaketh of hunting he should speak in this 
manner. First if men ask him of pastures he 
may answer as of harts and for all other deer, 
sweet pastures, and of all biting beasts as of wild 
boar, wolves, and other biting beasts he may 
answer, they feed, as I have said before. And if 
men speak of the fumes ye shall call fumes of a 
hart, croteying of a buck, and of a roebuck in the 
same wise of a wild boar and of black beasts and 
of wolves ye shall call it lesses, and of hare and 
of conies ye shall say they crotey, of the fox 
wagging, of the grey the wardrobe, and of other 
stinking beasts they shall call it drit, and that of 
the otter he shall call sprainting as before is said. 
And if men asketh of the beasts' feet, of the harts 
ye shall say the trace of a hart and also of a buck, 
and that of the wild boar and of the wolf also 

1 A whole line is missing here in our MS. The words in 
brackets are taken from the Shirley MS. It runs : "Affter I 
wal telle yowe a man howe he shal speke amonge good hunters 
of y offyce of venerye." 

2 The word " work " has been omitted. " Et bien ouvrer 
subtilement" (G. de F. p. 134). 



i 4 o THE MASTER OF GAME 

they call traces beyond the sea. And that of the 
stinking beasts that men call vermin, he shall call 
them steps as I have said. And if he hath seen a 
hart with his eyes, there are three kinds of hues 
of them, that one is called brown, the other 
yellow, and the third dun, and so he may call 
them as he thinketh that they beareth all their 
hues. And if men ask what head beareth the 
hart he hath seen, he shall always answer by even 
and not by odd, for if he be forked on the right side, 
and lack not of his rights l beneath, and on the 
right 2 side antler and royal and surroyal and not 
forked but only the beam, he shall say it is a hart 
of ten at default? for it is always called even of 
the greater number. And every buck's tines 
should be reckoned as soon as a man can hang a 
baldric or a leash 4 thereupon and not otherwise. 
And when a hart beareth as many tines on the 
one side as on the other, he may say if he be but 
forked that he is a hart of ten, and if he be troched 
of three he is a hart of twelve, if he be troched of 
four he is a hart of sixteen, always if it be seen 
that he hath his rights beneath as before is said. 
And if he lack any of his rights beneath he must 

1 Brow, bay, and tray tines. See Appendix : Antler. 

2 In Shirley MS. it is "left." 

3 Instead of this original passage G. de F. says : " For if he 
had on one side ten points and on the other only one, it should 
be called summed of twenty" (p. 135). 

4 G. de F. has "spur" instead. 



HOW TO KNOW A GREAT HART 141 

abate so many on the top, for a hart's head should 
begin to be described from the mule 1 upwards, and 
if he hath more by two on the one side than on the 
other, you must take from the one and count up that 
other withal, as I shall more clearly speak in a 
chapter hereafter in describing a hart's head. And 
if it be so that the hart's trace have other tokens 
than I have said and he thinks him a hart chace- 
able, and men ask what hart it is he may say it 
is a hart of ten and no more. And if it seem to 
him a great hart and men ask what hart it is, he 
shall say it is a hart that the last year was of ten 
and should not be refused. And if he happen to 
have well seen him with his eye or the before said 
tokens, so that he knoweth fully that it is as 
great a hart as a hart may be, if men ask him 
what hart it is, he may say it is a great hart and 
an old deer. And that is the greatest word that 
he may say as I have said before. And if men 
ask him whereby he knoweth it, he may say for, 
he hath good bones 2 and a good talon and a good 
sole of foot, for these four 3 things makes the trace 
great, or by fair lairs or the grass or the earth well 
pressed or by the high head, 4 or by the fumes or 

1 Burr, mule, from the Fr. meule. 2 Dew claws. 

3 According to Shirley MS. and the sense, the "iiii " should 
be omitted. 

4 G. de F. (p. 136) says : "Ou belles portées"— portées being 
the branches, and twigs broken or bent asunder by the head of 
the deer, termed "entry" or "rack" in mod. Eng. — Stuart, 
vol. ii. 551. 



1 4 2 THE MASTER OF GAME 

else other tokens as I have said before. And if 
he see a hart that hath a well affeted (fashioned) 
head after the height and the shape and the tines 
well ranged by good measure, the one from the 
other, and men ask him what he beareth he may 
answer that he beareth a great head and fair of 
beam, and of all his rights, and well opened ; and 
if a man ask him what head he beareth, he shall 
answer that he beareth a fair head by all tokens 
and well grown. And if he see a hart that hath 
a low head or a high, or a great, or a small, and 
it be thick set, high and low and men ask him 
what head he beareth he may answer he bears a 
thick set head after his making, or that he hath 
low or small or other manner whatever it be. 
And if he see a hart that hath a diverse head, or 
that antlers grow back or that the head hath 
double beams or other diversities than other harts 
commonly be wont to bear, and men ask what 
head he bears, he may answer a diverse head or 
a counterfeit (abnormal), for it is counterfeited. 
And if he see a hart that beareth a high head that 
is wide and thin tined with long beams, if men 
ask what head he beareth, he shall answer a fair 
head and wide, and long beams, but it is not 
thick set neither well affeted. And if he see a 
hart that hath a low and a great and a thick set 
(head) and men ask what head he beareth, he 
may say he beareth a fair head and well affeted. 



HOW TO KNOW A GREAT HART 143 

And if men ask him by the head whereby he 
knoweth that it is a great hart and an old, he may 
answer, that the tokens of the great hart are by 
the head, and so the first knowledge is when he 
hath great beams all about as if they were set as 
it were with small stones, and the mules nigh the 
head and the antlers, the which are the first tines, 
be great and long and close to the mule and well 
apperyng (pearled) and the royals which are the 
second tines, be nigh the antlers, and of such 
form, save that they should not be so great ; and 
all the other tines great and long and well set, 
and well ranged and the troching as I have said 
before, high and great, and all the beams all along 
both great and stony, as if they were full of 
gravel, and that all along the beams there be small 
vales that men call gutters, then he may say that 
he knows it is a great hart by the head. 

After I will tell you how ye should know a 
great wild boar, and for to know how to speak 
of it among hunters of beyond the sea. And if a 
man see a wild boar the which seemeth to him 
great enough, as men say of the hart chaceable of 
ten, he shall say a wild boar of the third year 
that is without refusal, and whenever they be not 
of three years men call them swine of the sounder, 
and if he see the great tokens that I shall rehearse 
hereafter he may say that he is a great boar. Of 
the season and nature of boar and of other beasts, 



144 THE MASTER OF GAME 

I have spoken here before. And if men ask him 
of a boar's feeding, it is properly called of acorns 
of oak's bearing, and of beechmast, the other 
feeding is called worming and rooting of the roots 
out of the earth that feed him. The other kind 
of feeding is of corn and of other things that 
come up out of the land, and of flowers and of 
other herbs ; the other kind of feeding is when 
they make great pits, and go to seek the root 
of ferns and of spurge within the earth. And if 
men ask whereby he knoweth a great boar, he shall 
answer that he knoweth him by the traces and by 
his den, and by the soil (wallowing pool). And 
if men ask whereby he knoweth a great boar from 
a young, and the boar from the sow, he shall 
answer that a great boar should have long traces 
and the clees round in front, and broad soles of 
the feet and a good talon, and long bones, and 
when he steppeth it goeth into the earth deep 
and maketh great holes and large, and long 
the one from the other, for commonly a man 
shall not see the traces of a boar without 
seeing also the traces of the bones, and so 
shall he not of the hart, for a man shall see many 
times by the foot, that which he will not see by 
the ergots, but so shall he not see of the boar. 
What I call the bones of the boar, of the hart I 
call the ergots, and the cause that a man shall 
not know as well by the ergots of the hart as 



HOW TO KNOW A GREAT HART 145 

by bones of the boar is this, for the bones of 
the boar are nearer the talon than those of a 
hart are, and also they are longer, and greater 
and sharper in front. And therefore as soon as 
the form of the traces of his foot is in the earth, 
the form of the bones is there also, and commonly 
a great boar maketh a longer trace with one of his 
claws than with the other in front or behind, and 
sometimes both. And when a man seeth the 
tokens beforesaid greater, he may deem him 
greater, and the smaller the trace, the smaller 
the boar. The sow from the boar ye may know 
well, for the sow maketh not so good a talon as 
a right young boar doth. And also a sow's 
claws are longer and sharper in front than a 
young boar's. And also her traces are more 
open in front and straighter behind, and the sole 
of the foot is not so large as of a young boar, and 
her bones are not so large nor so long, nor so far 
the one from the other as those of a young boar, 
nor go not so deep in the earth, for they be 
small, and sharp and short, and nearer the one to 
the other, than a young boar's. And these are the 
tokens by the which men know a young boar so 
that he be two year old from all sows, by the trace, 
for that say I not of the young boars of sounder. 
And if men ask him how he shall know a great 
boar by his den, he may answer that if the den of 
the boar be long and deep and broad, it is a token 

K 



146 THE MASTER OF GAME 

that it is a great boar so that the den be^newly 
made and that he hath lain therein but once. And 
if the boar's den is deep without litter, and if the 
boar lie near the earth it is a token that it is no 1 
fat boar. And if men ask him how he knoweth 
a great boar by the soil, then may he answer that 
commonly when a boar goeth to soil in the coming 
in or in the going out, men may know by the trace, 
and so it may be deemed as I have said by his 
wallowing in the soil. Nevertheless some time he 
turneth himself from the one side upon the other, 
and up and down, but a man shall evermore know 
the form of his body. Also sometimes when the 
boar parteth from the soil, he rubbeth against a 
tree, and there a man may know his greatness 
and his height. And some time he rubs his snout 
and his head higher than he is, but a man may 
well perceive which is of the chine and which is 
of the head. For by his lesses, that is to say what 
goes from him behind, nor by other judgment a 
man cannot know a great boar unless he see him, 
save that he maketh great lesses, and that is a 
token that he hath a great bowel, and that he be 
a great boar, and also by the tusks when he is 
dead, for when the tusks of a boar be great as 
of half a cubit or more and be both great and 

i G. de F. (p. 139) says if "le senglier gise près de la terre, 
c'est signe qu'il ait bonne venoison," so our MS. is evidently 
wrong when it says "it is a token that it is no fat boar." 



HOW TO KNOW A GREAT HART 147 

large of two fingers or more and there be small 
gutters along both above and beneath, these be 
the tokens that he is a great boar and old, and of 
a smaller boar the judgment is less. And also 
when the tusks be low and worn, by the nether 
tusks it is a token of a great boar. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

HOW THE ORDINANCE SHOULD BE MADE FOR 
THE HART HUNTING BY STRENGTH AND 
HOW THE HART SHOULD BE HARBOURED 

WHEN the king or my lord the Prince or any of 
their blood will hunt for the hart by strength, the 
Master of the Game must forewarn on the previous 
evening the sergeant of the office, and the yeomen 
berners at horse, and also the lymerer. 1 And then 
he must ordain which of them three shall go for to 
harbour the hart, and with them the lymerer for the 
morrow, and charge the foresters, or if it be in a 
'park, the farkers to attend to him busily. And all 
the four must accord where the meeting shall be on 
the morrow, and he must charge the sergeant and 
one of the two yeomen, if the sergeant be not there, 
to warn all the yeomen and grooms of the office to be 
at the meeting at sunrise. And that the yeomen 
berners on foot and the grooms that are called 
Ch ace chiens bring with them the hart hounds and 
this done ask for the wine, and let them go after. 
And he that is charged to harbour the hart must 

1 The man who leads the hound in leash when harbouring 

the hart. 

148 



HART-HUNTING BY STRENGTH 149 

accord with the forester of the bailie in which they 
seek him where they should meet in the grey dawn- 
ing. Nevertheless it were good readiness to look if 
they might see any deer at its meating (feeding) the 
previous evening to know the more readily where to 
seek and harbour him on the morrow. And on the 
morrow when they meet the forester that well ought 
to know of his great deer's haunts, he shall lead the 
hunter and the lymerer thither, where he best hopes 
to see him or find of him without noise. And if they 
can see him and they be in the wind they ought to 
withdrazv from him in the softest manner they can, 
for dread of frightening him out of his haunt, and 
then go privily till they be under the wind. And as 
he stereth (stalks) and paceth forth feeding, they are 
to draw nigh him as readily and warily as they can 
so that the deer find them not. And when he has 
entered his covert, and to his Ugging, they ought to 
tarry till they know that he be entered two skilful 
bowshots from thence. And then ought the lymerer 
by bidding of the hunter to cast round with his 
lymer the quarter that the deer is in, if it be in a 
huge covert, and if it be in a little covert that the 
deer is in, set l all the covert to know whether he is 
gone away or abides there still. And if he abides, 

1 To set the covert was for the huntsman or limerer with his 
hound on a leash to go round the covert that he had seen the 
deer enter, and to look carefully whether he could find any 
signs of the stag having left the place. This in more modern 
parlance is called making his ring walks. 



150 THE MASTER OF GAME 

then shall the ly merer go there where the hart went 
in, and take the scantilon (measure) of the trace 
for zvhich he should cut off the end of his rod, and 
lay it in the talon of the trace, there where he went 
in hardest ground, in the bottom thereof so that the 
scantilon will scarcely touch at either end. And 
that done he should break a bough of green leaves 
and lay it there where the hart went in, and cut 
another scantilon thereafter to take to the hunter 
that he may take it to the lord or to the Master of 
the Game at the meeting which some men call 
Assembly. But on the other side, if it be so that 
they cannot see him as before is said, the forester 
ought to bring him where most defoil is (tracks) of 
great male deer within his bailiewick, and there 
where the best haunt is, and most likely for a hart. 
And when the harbourer and the ly merer be there, 
the lymer if he crosses the fues of a deer he will 
anon challenge it, and then shall the lymerer take 
heed to his feet to know by the trace what deer it is 
that the lymer fndeth, and if he finds thereby that it 
is no hart he shall take up his hound and say to him 
softly, not loud, " Ware rascal, ware ! " And if it 
be of a hart that the lymer findeth, and that it be 
new he ought to sue (hunt up) with as little noise as 
he can contreongle (hunting heel) to undo all his 
moving^ till he find his fumes (excrements), which 
he ought to fut in the great end of his horn, and 

1 Moving, moves. See Appendix : Move. 



HART-HUNTING BY STRENGTH 151 

stop it with grass to prevent them falling out and 
reward his hound a little. And that done come 
again there where he began to sue and sue forth 
the right line till he comes to the entering of the 
quarter vshere he thinks that the hart is in. And 
always with little ?ioise and cast round the quarters, 
if it be in a great covert as I said before. And also 
if it be in a little covert, to do of the scantilon and 
of all other things right as I have said before. And 
if he be voided (gone) to another quarter or u 
and there be any other covert near always to sue 
forth and cast round quarter by quarter, and wood 
by wood till he be readily harboured. And when he 
is harboured of the scantilon and of all other tl 
do as before is said, and then draw fast to the 
meeting that men call assembly. And it is to be 
known that oftentimes a deer is harboured by sight 
of man's eye, but who should do it well it behoves 
him to be a skilful and wise hunter. Nevertheless 
to teach hunters the more readily to seek and harbour 
a hart according to the country that he is in, I have 
devised it in certain chapters as ye may hereafter 
hear. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

HOW A HUNTER SHOULD GO IN QUEST BY 
THE SIGHT 

Afterwards I shall show you how a man should 
go in quest for the hart with his lymer or by him- 
self. This word quest for the hart is a term of 
hunters beyond the sea, and means when a man goeih 
to find a deer and to harbour him, and it is a fair 
term and shorter said than our term of England to 
my seeming. And then shall the groom quest in 
the country that shall be devised to him the night 
before, and he shall rise in the dawning, and then 
he must go to the meating (pasturing) of the deer 
to look if he may see anything to his liking, and 
leave his lymer in a certain place where he may 
not alarm them. And thence he should go to the 
newly hewn wood of the forest or other places where 
he hopes best to see a hart, and keep always from 
coming into the wind of the hart, he should also 
climb upon a tree so that the hart shall wind 
nothing of him, and that he can see him further. 
And if he sees a hart standing stably he must look 
well in what country he shall go to his lair, and 

privily repair to some place where he can best see 

152 



IN QUEST BY THE SIGHT 153 

him and there break a bough for a mark. But he 
must remain a great while after, for some time a 
hart will stall and look about a great while before 
he will go to his lair, and specially when a great 
dew is falling, or else sometimes he cometh out 
again to look about, and to listen and to dry him- 
self, and therefore he should stay long, so as not 
to frighten him. Then he should fetch his lymer 
and cast round as it is before said in the chapter of 
the harbouring of a hart, and take care that neither 
he nor his hounds make but little noise for dread 
lest he void. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

HOW AN HUNTER SHOULD GO IN QUEST BETWEEN 
THE PLAINS AND THE WOOD 

Also a man may go in quest in the fields in corn, 
in vines, in gardens, and in other places, where 
the harts go to their pasture in the fields out of 
the wood, and he must go forth right early so that 
he may look at the ground and judge well, and if 
he sees anything that pleases him he can break 
boughs and lay his mark and cast round as before 
is said. 



'54 



CHAPTER XXIX 

HOW A HUNTER SHOULD GO IN QUEST IN THE 
COPPICE AND THE YOUNG WOOD 

Also a man may go in quest among young wood, 
and although he has been in the morning and 
(seen) nought, nevertheless he should not neglect 
to quest with his lymer when it is high day when 
all the deer have gone to their lairs, for per- 
adventure the hart will sometimes have gone into 
the wood before the hunter and lymer came to 
quest for him. 



155 



CHAPTER XXX 

HOW AN HUNTER SHOULD GO IN QUEST IN 
GREAT COVERTS AND STRENGTHS 

Also a hunter may go in quest and put himself 
and his lymer in the great thickets by high time 
of day, as I have said, for it befalleth sometimes 
that harts are so malicious, that they pasture within 
themselves, that is to say within their covert, and 
go not out to the fields nor to the coppices nor to 
the young wood, especially when they have heard 
the hounds run before in the forest once or twice. 
He must have affeeted (trained) his lymer in such 
a manner that he neither opens nor quests 1 when 
he hunts in the morning, for he would make the 
hart void, and that must be by high noon, as 
I have said, when all beasts are in their lairs. 
And if his lymer find anything he should hold 
him short and lead him behind him, and look 
what deer it is, and if it be anything that pleases 
him, then he shall sue with his lymer till the time 
that he has brought it into some thicket, and then 
he shall break his boughs and take the scantilon 
and cast round as is before said, and then return 
home again to the assembly that in England is 
called a meeting or gathering. 

1 Should not give tongue. 
156 






CHAPTER XXXI 

HOW A HUNTER SHOULD QUEST IN CLEAR 
SPIRES AND HIGH WOOD 1 

Also I will tell you how a hunter should go in 
quest among clear spires, and among high trees, 
and specially when it has rained the night before 
and in the morning. Eke in the time when the 
heads of the harts be tender, commonly they 
abide among clear spires and in high woods, for 
a thick country peradventure would do harm to 
their heads which be tender. If he meets rain as 
I before have said, or when their heads (are tender, 
and he meeteth 2 ) anything that pleaseth him, he 
should not follow it with his lymer, for they 
remain in such a country as I have said in that 
time, that is to say in rain and when their heads 
are tender, for he might make the deer void into 
some other place of the quests as it is before said. 
And whoso meets him in the wood in sight of his 

1 In the text of our MS. (the Vespasian) no break occurs 
here, but in the table of chapters at the beginning of the MS. 
the chapter as here given is enumerated, and this corresponds 
also with the Shirley and other MSS. 

2 The scribe who copied the Vespasian MS. omitted the 
bracketed words. 

157 



158 THE MASTER OF GAME 

eyes, then he must set his lymer in his fues. And 
if it be a deer that enter-changeth, 1 that is to say 
if a deer puts his hind feet in the trace of the fore- 
feet without passing on, it is no good token, but if 
he sets his hinder feet far from the fore feet it is a 
good token, for when a hart entre-marcheth it is a 
token that he is a light deer and well running and 
of great flight, for if he had a side belly and great 
flanks he could not entre-marche, but the contrary 
would he do. 2 And sometimes when the hart 
makes a long stride with the hind foot, commonly 
they cannot fly well, and have been little hunted. 
And if he has of the fumes, he should put them in 
his horn with grass, or in his lap 3 with grass, for 
a man should not bear them in his hand, for they 
would all break. And when he should meet in 
the fields anything that pleaseth him, he should 
draw towards his covert, for to make him draw 
the sooner to his stronghold, and when he findeth 
where he goeth in, then he should break a bough 
towards the place where the hart is gone, and 
take the scantilon, and follow him no further in 
the wood. Then he should make a long turn and 

1 See Appendix: Hart. 

2 The explanation of this sentence is that a stag which entre- 
marched or sur-marched, or in other words placed the hind 
foot on the track or beyond the track made by the front foot, 
was a thin or light deer, and therefore not a fat stag, which 
latter was what the hunter would be looking for. 

3 Lappet of his coat. 



IN SPIRES AND HIGH WOOD 159 

cast round about by some ways or by-paths, and 
if he sees that he hath not passed out of his turn, 
he may return again to the gathering, and make 
them his report, and if it be so that he pass there 
where he would umbicast (cast round) and make 
his turn, and his lymer before him, then he should 
look if it is the same hart he had umbicast (cast 
round), and if he cannot well see at his ease, then he 
should reconnoitre the country till he can see easily 
and plainly, but have a care that his lymer open 
not, and if his lymer be dislave 1 (be wild), let him 
investigate it with his eye. And if he seeth that 
it is his first hart he should not follow him, but 
then he should take another turn and umbicast. 
He must look that he go not along the ways, for 
it is the worst sueing that is : for the lymer 
commonly overshoots. But he should go a little 
way off the paths on one side or the other, until 
he (the hart) be within his turn, for then he is 
most securely harboured and the search shall be 
shorter. But if he see that it be too late to run 
him with strength, and if he see that the hart goes 
but softly pacing towards his stronghold he need 
not do all these things. And I pray him where 
he hath met with the hart, or harboured him in his 
stronghold or in coppices or in other thickets, 
that he take all his blenches (tricks) and his ruses 

1 Shirley MS. Dislavee — obsolete word meaning going beyond 
bounds, immoderate. 



i6o THE MASTER OF GAME 

before said, to be more secure, and to make 
a shorter search, if he hath time to do as I have 
said. Thus I have rehearsed the readiness that 
belongs to the harbouring of the hart. And now 
will I devise where men will best find them in 
bellowing time. It is known that they begin to 
bellow fifteen days before grease time 1 ends, especi- 
ally old deer, and also if the end of August and 
the beginning of September be wet and rainy. 

1 After grease time. See Appendix : Grease Time. 



CHAPTER XXXII 

HOW A GOOD HUNTER SHALL GO IN QUEST 
TO HEAR THE HARTS BELLOW 

Also a good hunter should go before daybreak to 
hear the harts bellow which peradventure bellow 
in the forest in divers parts, and to look by the 
bellowing of the harts which seemeth to him the 
greatest. And always hearkening nearer and nearer 
under the wind, in such wise that when he will 
begin to sue, that he need nothing but to bring 
the lymer to the fues. And anon when he seeth 
that it is a hart that he findeth, uncouple the 
finders, but not too many, and this, for fear of 
falling in danger (of losing the right deer), should 
be done right early as soon as men can see day- 
light, for in that time the harts chase the hinds, 
and go hither and thither and abide no while in one 
place as they do in the right season. And because 
a man cannot come nigh him with a lymer, it is 
good to uncouple the hounds, for the hounds will 
get nigh them quicker and the bolder hounds will 
soon dissever (separate) the harts from the hinds. 
The harts bellow in divers manners, according as 
they be old or young, and according whether they 

161 L 



1 62 THE MASTER OF GAME 

be in a country where they have not heard the 
hounds, or where they have heard them. Some 
of them bellow with a full open mouth and often 
cast up their heads. And these be those that have 
heard the hounds only a little in the season, and 
that are well heated and swelled. And sometimes 
about high noon they bellow as before is said. 
The others bellow low and great and stooping with 
the head, and the muzzle towards the earth, and 
that is a token of a great hart, and an old and a 
malicious, or that he hath heard the hounds, and 
therefore dare not bellow or only a few times in 
the day, unless if it be in the dawning. And the 
other belloweth with his muzzle straight out before 
him, bolking and rattling in the throat, and also 
that is a token of a great and old hart that is assured 
and firm in his rut. In short all the harts that 
bellow greatest and mightiest by reason should be 
greatest and oldest. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

HOW THE ASSEMBLY THAT MEN CALL GATHER- 
ING SHOULD BE MADE BOTH WINTER AND 
SUMMER AFTER THE GUISE OF BEYOND 
THE SEA 

The assembly that men call gathering should be 

made in this manner : the night before that the 

Lord or the Master of the Game will go to the 

wood, he must cause to come before him all the 

hunters and the helps, the grooms and the pages, 

and shall assign to each one of them their quests 

in a certain place, and separate the one from the 

other, and the one should not come into the quest 

of the other, nor do him annoyance or hinder 

him. And every one should quest in his best 

wise, in the manner that I have said ; and should 

assign them the place where the gathering shall 

be made, at most ease for them all, and the 

nearest to their quests. And the place where the 

gathering shall be made should be in a fair mead 

well green, where fair trees grow all about, the 

one far from the other, and a clear well or beside 

some running brook. And it is called gathering 

because all the men and the hounds for hunting 

X63 B 



1 64 THE MASTER OF GAME 

gather thither, for all they that go to the quest 
should all come again in a certain place that I 
have spoken of. And also they that come from 
home, and all the officers that come from home 
should bring thither all that they need, every one 
in his office, well and plenteously, and should lay 
the towels and board clothes all about upon the 
green grass, and set divers meats upon a great 
platter 1 after the lord's power. And some should 
eat sitting, and some standing, and some leaning 
upon their elbows, some should drink, some laugh, 
some jangle, some joke and some play — in short 
do all manner of disports of gladness, and when 
men be set at tables ere they eat then should come 
the lymerers and their grooms with their lymers 
the which have been questing, and every one shall 
say his report to the lord of what they have done 
and found and lay the fumes before the lord he 
that hath any found, and then the Lord or the 
Master of the hunting by the counsel of them all 
shall choose which they will move and run to and 
which shall be the greatest hart and the highest 
deer. And when they shall have eaten, the lord 
shall devise where the relays shall go and other 
things which I shall say more plainly, and then 
shall every man speed him to his place, and all 
haste them to go to the finding. 

1 G. de F. (p. 151) says "in great plenty," not "upon a great 
platter." 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

HOW THE HART SHOULD BE MOVED WITH THE 
LYMER AND RUN TO AND SLAIN WITH 
STRENGTH 

WHEN the hart is harboured as before is said and 
they before named come to the meeting that some 
men call the assembly, and also the scantilon, 1 and 
the fumes well liked by the Lord and Master of the 
Game, then shall the Master of the Game choose oj 
the sergeants or of the yeoman at horse, which of 
them shall be at the finding, or all, or some. Never- 
theless, if the deer be likely to fall among danger 
it were good to assign some of the horsemen among 
the relays to help more readily the hounds, if they 
fall upon the stint 2 and when the hunters on horse- 
back be assigned then he must assign which of the 
yeomen berners on foot shall be finders, and which 
hounds he shall have with him to the finding, and 
the ly merer and the pages to go with him. And 
after that to assign the relays by advice of them 
that know the country and the flight of the deer. 

1 Measure of the deer's footprint. In old English, a measure 
(Stratmann). 

2 Wrong scent, or check. 

65 



1 66 THE MASTER OF GAME 

And there where most danger is, there set the 
readiest hunters and the best footers with the 
boldest hounds with them. And at every relay 
suffi ceth two confie of hounds or three at the most. 
And see that amid the relays, somewhat toward the 
hinder-most relay, esfecially if it be in danger, that 
one of the lymerer' s fages be there with one of the 
lymers. And the more danger (there is) the older 
and the readier, and the most tender nosed hound. 
And when all is ordained then shall the Lord and 
the Master of the Game, if he liketh better to be at 
the finding than with a relay, shall go thither where 
the deer is harboured, and set ready waits about the 
quarter of the wood that the deer is in, to see what 
cometh out, or to see if the deer that is harboured 
would start and steal away ere the lymer moved him. 
And this done, then should the Lord and Master of 
the Game bid the lymerer bring them there where 
he marked that the hart went in, and when they be 
there the lymerer should take away the boughs he 
laid over the trace at the harbouring, and set his 
lymer in the fues, and then shall the Lord if he can 
blow, blow three motes, and after him the Master of 
the Game, and after the hunters, as they be greatest 
in office, that be at the finding, and then the lymerer. 
And after that if the lymer sue boldly and lustily 
the lymerer shall say to him loud ; " Ho moy, ho 
moy, hole hole hole." And ever take good heed to 
his feet, and look well about him. And as oft as he 



HOW HART SHOULD BE MOVED 167 

findeth the fues, or if it be in thick spires, 1 boughs 
or branches broken, where the âeer hath walked, he 
should say aloud — " Cy va — cy va — cy va," and 
rally with his horn, and always should the yeoman 
berner the which is ordained to be finder, follow the 
lymer and be as nigh him as he might with the 
raches that he leadeth for the finding, and if the 
lymer as he sueth, overshoot and be out of the fues, 
the lymerer should always, till his hounds be fallen 
in again, speak to him, calling his name, be it 
Loyer, or Beaumont, or Latimer or Bemond ac- 
cording to what the hound is named, and anon as 
he falls in again and finds the fues or branches as 
before is said he shall say loud, " Cy va " as before 
and rally and so forth at every time that he findeth 
thereof, until that the lymer move him. Never- 
theless I have seen when a lymer sueth long and 
could not so soon move him as men would, that they 
have taken up the lymer and uncoupled one or two 
hounds, to have him sooner found, but this truly no 
skilful hunter ought to do, unless the lymer cannot 
put it forth, nor bring it any further, or that the 
deer be stirring in the quarter, and hath not waited 
for the moving of the lymer. Or else that it be so 
far advanced in the day, that the sun hath dried up 
the fues, and that they have little day enough to run 
him and hunt him with strength. But now to come 
again to the lymer, it is to wit that when the lymer 

1 Shoots, fresh-growing young wood. 



1 68 THE MASTER OF GAME 

hath moved him, if the lymerer can see him he shall 
blow a mote, 1 and rechace (recheat), 2 and if the deer 
he soule (alone) the Berners shall uncouple all the 
finders, and if he he not alone two hounds suffi ceth 
till he be separated, and if the lymerer saw him 
(not) at the moving he should go to his lair and look 
thereby whether it be a hart or not, and if he see by 
the lair or by the fues that it is the same deer, that 
he hath sued (hunted) and alone he should rechase 
without a long mote, for the mote should never be 
blown before the rechasing? unless a man seeth that 
which he hunteth for. And then the Berner should 
do as I have said before, and if he be not alone the 
Berner should do as above is said, for it is to wit that 
the mote before re chasing (recheating) shall never 
be blown but when a man seeth what he hunteth for, 
as I have said. Now furthermore, when the hart 
is moved and the finders cast off, then should the 
lymerer take up his hounds and follow after, and 
foot it in the best wise that he can. And the 
Berner also and every horseman go that can go, so 
that they come not into the fues (across the line) nor 
in front of the hounds, and shape (their course) as 
often as they can to meet him. And as often as 
any man see him or meet him, he should go to the 
fues and blow a mote and rechace and then holloa 



1 A long note. 

2 Recheat, a hunting signal on the horn. 

3 Recheating. See Appendix : Hunting-Music. 



HOW HART SHOULD BE MOVED 169 

to the hounds to come forth with all, and this done, 
speed him fast in the manner that I have said to 
meet with him again. And the relay that he (the 
hart) cometh to first should take good heed that he 
vauntlay 1 not, if other relays be behind for dread 
of bending out from the relay. But he should let the 
deer fas s and go to the fues, and there blow a mote, 
and rechace and rally upon the fues. And the 
hunter ought to be advised that his hounds catch it 
(the scent) well in couple, ere he relay, that they 
run not counter? For that might make the hounds 
that come therewith and the hunters to be on a stynt 
(at fault), and per adventure not recover it all the 
day after. And if it so be that the hunter that hath 
relayed, see that the deer be likely to fall into 
danger, that is to say among other deer, and else it 
îieedeth not, he should when he hath relayed stand 
still in the fues, and holloa the hounds that come 
forth therewith and take up the hindermost, and if 
it be in a park go stand again with them at his 
place, and if it be out of park in a forest or other 
wood follow after as well as he is able. And in 
this wise ought every relay to do till he come among 
the back relays. For if they at the back see by the 
spreading of the dees (claws) by setting fast and 
deep his ergots (dew claws) in the earth, and if 



1 Vauntlay, to cast off the relay before the hounds already 
hunting have passed. See Appendix : Relays. 

2 Do not hunt heel : contre, counter. 



170 THE MASTER OF GAME 

they see him also cast his chaule, 1 then they ought to 
vauntlay for advantage of the hounds, for so shall 
they sooner have him at hay, and from then he is 
hut dead if the hunters serve aright the hounds. 
Nevertheless men have seen at the first finding or 
soon after, deer turn the head (to bay), and oftenest 
in rutting time, hut I mean not of deer that turneth 
so to hay, hut I mean of hunted deer when men have 
seen of them the tokens said before that he stand at 
hay. And if it he so that the hounds have envoised 2 
or have overshot, or that they he on a stynt by any 
other ways, those hunters on horseback or on foot to 
whom belongs the right, first should blow the stynt 
as I shall devise in a chapter that shall be of all 
blowing. 3 And after that he should fall before the 
hounds as soon as he can and take them up, and if 
so be that they have envoy sed two deer of antler 4 
they should not be rated badly, but get in front 
of 7 them and take them off in the fairest way that 
men can. And if they run ought else they should 
be got in front of and rated and well lashed. And 
what hounds they may get up, bring them to the 
next rights (right line) if they know where, or else 
there where he (the hart) was last seen. And if 
it be great danger they ought to blow a mote for 
the lymer and let him sue till he hath retrieved him 

1 Drop his jaw. (?) 2 Gone off the right line. 

3 This chapter does not exist. 

* If the hounds have gone away after two stags. 



HOW HART SHOULD BE MOVED 171 

or else till he hath brought him out of danger. And 
as oft as he findeth or seeth that he is in the rights 
the ly merer should say loud, " Cy va" twice or 
thrice — and recheat, and so should the hunters as 
oft as they lust to blow. A?id if the lymer over- 
shoot or cannot fut it forth, every hunter that is 
there ought to go some deal abroad for to see if he 
may find the rights by vesteying (searching) thereof. 
And whoso may find it before the lymer be fallen in 
again, he should re cheat in the rights, and blow 
after that a mote for the lymer and sue forth as is 
said before. And if the lymer gave it up, and 
cannot and will not do his devoir e (duty), then 
should they blow two motes for the r aches and cast 
them off there where they were last in the rights. 
And if the hunters hear that the hounds run well 
and fut it lustily forth they should rout and jofey 1 
to them lustily and often and re cheat also. And 
if there be but one hound that undertaketh it lustily 
they shall hue and jofey to him, and also re cheat. 
As oft as they be on a stynt they should blow the 
stynt and do as before is said. And if any of the 
aforesaid hounds retrieve him so that men may 
know and hear it by the doubling of their menée, 2 
but if they hear any hunter above them that hath 
met (the deer) that bloweth the rights and holloaeth 

1 Call to the hounds encouragingly. 

2 Shirley MS.: "doubling of their mouths," from the Fr. 
menée. See Appendix : Menée. 



i72 THE MASTER OF GAME 

else (where) they should haste them thither where 
they thought the hounds retrieved it ; or else to 
meet with the hounds for to see the fues whether it 
he the hunted deer or not. And if it is not he, they 
should do as above is said when they he on a stynt, 
and if it be he every man shall speed him that 
speed may, and every relay do as before is said. 
And if any of the hunters happen while they be on 
a stynt to see a hart that he thinketh to be the 
hunted deer he ought to blow a mote and recheat 
and after that blow two motes for the hounds and 
stand still before the fues till the Berner with the 
hounds do come. And if they suppose that they 
may not hear him he should draw to them till they 
have heard him. And when any of the Berner s or 
the lymerer hear a man blow for them, they should 
answer blowing in this wise in their horn : " trut trut 
trut," but he should know readily by the fues after 
the tokens that have been said before, whether it be 
the hunted deer or not. And in the same wise shall 
a hunter do that findeth an hart quat (couched), 
and he thinketh it to be the hunted deer, and he sees 
that his fellows and the hounds be on a stynt, he 
should well beware that he blow not too nigh him, 
lest he start, and go away, before the hounds come. 
Nevertheless for to wit whether it be the hunted deer 
or no, the tokens have been rehearsed before — and 
when he hath been so well run to and enchased and 
retrieved, and so oft relayed and vauntelayed to, and 



HOW HART SHOULD BE MOVED 173 

that he seeth that (neither) by heating up the rivers 
nor brooks nor foiling him down, nor going to soil, 
nor rusing to ana fro upon himself which is to say in 
his own fues, can help him, then turns he his head 
and standeth at bay. And then as far as it may 
be heard every man draweth thither, and the know- 
ing thereof is that the hunter that cometh first, and 
the hunters (one) after the other they holloa all 
together, and blow a mote and rechace all at once. 
And that they never do but when he is at bay or 
when bay is made for the hounds, after he is dead, 
when they should be rewarded or enquerreyde} 
And when the hunters that held the relays be there, 
or that they be nigh the bay, they should pull off 
the couples from the hounds' necks and let them draw 
thither. And the hunters should break the bay as 
often as they can for two causes ; the one lest he 
(the stag) hurt the hounds, if he stand and rest long 
in one place ; another is that the relays that stand 
far can come up with their hounds the while he is 
alive, and be at the death. And it is to be known 
that if any of the hunters have been at any time 
while the deer hath been run to out of hearing of 
hound and horn, he should have blown the forloyne? 
unless he were in a park, for there it should never 
be blown. And whoso first heard him so blow 

1 See Appendix : Curée. 

2 A horn signal denoting that the chase is being followed at 
a distance by those who blow. From the Yx.fortloin, written 
forlonge. See Appendix : Forlonge. 



174 THE MASTER OF GAME 

should blow again to him the " 'perfect" 1 if it so 
be that he were in his rights, and else not. For by 
that shall he be brought to readiness and comfort 
who before did not know where the game or any of 
his fellows were. And when it so is, that they have 
thought that the bay has lasted long enough, then 
should he whoso be the most master bid some of the 
hunters go spay 2 him behind the shoulder forward 
to the heart. But the ly merer should let slip the 
rope while he (the deer) stood on his feet, and let 
the lymer go to (him), for by right the lymer 
should never (go) out of the rope, though he (be let) 
slip from ever so far. And when the deer is dead, 
and lieth on one side then first it is time to blow the 
death, for it should never be blown at hart hunting 
till the deer be on its side. And then should the 
hounds be coupled Up and as fast as a man can. 
One of the Berners should encorne him, that is to 
say turn his horns earthwards and the throat up- 
wards, and slit the skin of the throat all along the 
neck, and cut labelles (small flaps) on either side of 
the skin, the which shall hang still upon the he ad, for 
this belongeth to an hart slain with strength, and 
else not. And then should the hunter flay down the 
skin as far as he can, and then with a sharp trencher 
cut as thick as he can the flesh down to the neck 
bone, and this done every man stand abroad and 

1 A note sounded only by those who are on the right line. 

2 To kill with a sword or hunting knife. See Appendix : Spay. 



HOW HART SHOULD BE MOVED 175 

blow the death, and make short hay for to reward the 
hounds. And every man (shall) have a small rod 
in his hand to hold the hounds that they should the 
better bay and every man blow the death that can 
blow. And as oft as any hunter beginneth to blow 
every man shall blow for the death to make the 
better noise, and make the hounds better know the 
horns and the bay, and when they have bayed a 
while let the hounds come to eat the flesh, to the 
hard bone from in front of the shoulders right to 
the head, for that is their reward of right. And 
then take them off fair and couple them up again. 
And then bring to the lymers and serve each by 
himself, and then should the Lord if he list or else 
the Master of the Game, or if he be absent whoso is 
greatest of the hunters, blow the prise at coupling 
up, and that should be blown only of the aforesaid, 
and by no others. Nevertheless it is to wit that if 
the Lord be not come soon enough to the bay, while 
the deer is alive they ought to hold the bay as long 
as they can, without rebuking the hounds, to await 
the Lord, and if the Lord remains away too long, 
when the deer is spayed and laid on one side, before 
they do ought else, the Master of the Game, or 
which of the horsemen that be there at the death, 
should mount their horses and every man draw his 
way blowing the death till one of them hath met 
with him, or heard of him, and brought him thither. 
And if they cannot meet with him, and that they 



176 THE MASTER OF GAME 

have word that he is gone home, they ought to come 
again, and do, whoso is greatest master, as the Lord 
should do, if he were there, and right so should they 
do to the Master of the Game in the Lord'' s absence. 
Also if the Lord be there all things should be done 
of the bay and rewarding as before is said, and 
then he should charge whom he list to undo the deer, 
if the hounds shall not be enquyrid thereon, for 
if they should, there needeth no more but to caboche l 
his head, all the upper jaw still thereon, and the 
labelles aforesaid ; and then hold him and lay the 
skin open, and lay the head at the skirfs end right 
in front of the shoulders. And when the hounds are 
thus inquirreide the lymers should have both the 
shoulders for their rights, and else they should not 
have but the ears and the brain whereof they should 
be served, the hart" s head lying under their feet. 
But on the other hand if the lord will have the deer 
undone, he that he biddeth as before is said, should 
undo him most woodmanly and cleanly that he can 
and wonder ye not that I say woodmanly, for it is a 
point that belongeth to woodmans craft, though it be 
well suiting to an hunter to be able to do it. Never- 
theless it belongeth more to woodmanscraft than to 
hunters, and therefore as of the manner he should be 
undone I pass over lightly, for there is no woodman 
nor good hunter in England that cannot do it well 

1 Cut off the head close behind the antlers. Shirley MS. : 
" Cabache." 



HOW HART SHOULD BE MOVED 177 

enough, and well better than I can tell them. Never- 
theless when so is that the paunch is taken out clean 
and whole and the small guts, one of the groom 
chacechiens should take the paunch and go to the 
next water withal, and slit it, and cast out the 
filth and wash it clean, that no filth abide therein. 
And then bring it again and cut it in small gobetts 
in the blood that should be kept in the skin and the 
lungs withal, if they be hot and else not, and all the 
small guts withal, and bread broken therein accord- 
ing whether the hounds be few or many, and all this 
turned and meddled together among the blood till it 
be well brewed in the blood, and then look for a 
small green, and thither bear all this upon the skin 
with as much blood as can be saved, and there lay 
it, and spread the skin thereupon, the hair side 
upward, and lay the head, the visage, forward at 
the neck end of the skin. And then the lord shall 
go take a fair small rod in his hand, the which one of 
the yeomen or of the grooms should cut for him, and 
the Master of the Game and other, and the sergeants, 
and each of the yeomen on horse, and others, and 
then the Lord should take up the harfs head by 
the right side between the surroyal and the fork 
or troche whichever it be that he bear, and the 
Master of the Game, the left side in the same wise, 
and hold the head upright that the nose touch the 
earth. And then every man that is there, save the 
berner s on foot and the chacechiens and the lymerers 

M 



178 THE MASTER OF GAME 

which should he with their hounds and wait upon 
them in a fair green where there is a cool shadow, 
should stand in front on either side of the head, 
with rods, that no hound come about, nor on the 
sides, hut that all stand in front. And when it is 
ready the Master of the Game or the sergeant 
should hid the herners bring forth their hounds and 
stand still in front of them a small quoit's cast 
from thence, as the hay is ordained. And when 
they he there the Master of the Game or sergeant 
should cry skilfully loud : " Devour " and then 
holloa every wight, and every hunter blow the 
death. And when the hounds he come and hay the 
head, the Berner s should full off the couples as fast 
as they can. And when the Lord thinketh the 
bay hath lasted long enough, the Master of the 
Game should pull away the head and anon others 
should be ready to pull away the skin and let the 
hounds come to the reward, and then should the 
Lord and Master of the Game, and all the hunters 
stand around all about the reward, and blow the 
death. As oft as any of them begin every man 
bear him fellowship till the hounds be well re- 
warded, and that they have nought left. And right 
thus should be done when the hounds should be 
enquyrreied of the whole deer. And when there is 
nought left then should the Lord, if he wishes, or else 
the Master of the Game or in his absence whoso is 
greatest next him, stroke (blow) in this wise, that is 



HOW HART SHOULD BE MOVED 179 

to say blow four motes and stynt (stop) not (for the 
time of) half an Ave Maria and then blow other 
four motes a little longer than the first four motes. 
And thus should no wight stroke, but when the hart is 
slain with strength, and when one of the aforesaid 
hath thus blown then should the grooms confie up the 
hounds and draw homewards fair and soft. And all 
the rest of the hunters should stroke in this wise : 
" Trut, trut, tro-ro-row, tro-ro-row," and four motes 
all of one length not too long and not too short. And 
otherwise should no hart hunter stroke from thence- 
forth till they go to bed. And thus should the 
Berner s on foot and the grooms lead home the hounds 
and send in front that the kennel be clean and the 
trough filled with clean water, and their couch re- 
newed with fresh straw. And the Master of the 
Game and the sergeant and the yeoman at horse 
should come home and blow the menée at the hall door 
or at the cellar door as I shall devise. First the 
master, or whoso is greatest next him, shall begin and 
blow three motes 1 alone, and at the first mote 2 the 
remnant of the aforesaid should blow with him, and 
beware that none blow longer than another, and after 
the three motes even forthwith they should blow the 
recoupling as thus : " Trut, trut, trororo rout," and 
that they be advised that from the time they fall in 
to blow together, that none of them begin before (the) 

1 Shirley MS. says' four notes. 

2 Should read : "at the last moot." 



i8o THE MASTER OF GAME 

other nor end after (the) other. And if it he the 
first hart slain with strength in the season, or the 
last, the sergeant and the yeoman shall go on their 
officers behalf and ask their fees of the which I report 
me to the old statutes and customs of the Kings house. 
And this done the Master of the Game ought to speak 
to the officers that all the hunters* suppers he well 
ordained, and that they drink not ale, and nothing 
hut wine that night for the good and great labour 
they have had for the Lord's game and disport, and 
for the exploit and making of the hounds. And also 
that they may the more merrily and gladly tell what 
each of them hath done all the day and which hounds 
have best run and boldest. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

HOW AN HUNTER SHOULD SEEK AND FIND 
THE HARE WITH RUNNING HOUNDS AND 
SLAY HER WITH STRENGTH 

Ere I speak how the hare should be hunted, it is 
to be known that the hare is king of all venery, for 
all blowing and the fair terms of hunting cometh of 
the seeking and the finding of the hare. For certain 
it is the most marvellous beast that is, for ever 
she fumeth or croteth and roungeth and beareth 
tallow and grease. And though men say that she 
fumeth inasmuch as she beareth tallow, yet that 
which cometh from her is not called fumes but croteys. 
And she hath teeth above in the same wise as be- 
neath. It is also to be known that the hare is at 
one time male and another time female. When she is 
female sometimes she kindles in three degrees, two 
rough, two smooth and two knots that afterwards 
should be kindles, but this happeneth but seldom. 
Now for to speak of the hare how he shall be sought 
and found and chased with hounds. It is to be 
known what the first word (should be) that the hunter 
should speak to his hounds when he lets them out of 
the kennel. When the door is opened he shall say 

i8i 



1 82 THE MASTER OF GAME 

loud : " Ho ho arere," 1 because that his hounds 
will come out too hastily. And when he uncoupleth 
his hounds, he shall say to them when he comes into 
the field : " Sto mon amy sto atrete" hut when he 
is come forth into the field he shall blow three motes 
and uncouple the hounds, then he shall speak twice 
to his hounds in this wise, " Hors de couple, avaunt 
cy avaunt " 2 and then he shall say thrice " So how " 
and no more ; afterward he shall say loud " Sa say 
cy avaunt " and then " Sa cy avaunt, sa cy avaunt 
so how," and if he see the hounds draw fast from 
him and would fain run, he shall say thus to them 
here : " How amy — how amy," and then shall he 
say " Swe mon famy swef" 3 for to make them go 
softly, and between always blow three motes. And 
if any of his hounds find and own to the hare where 
he hath been, he shall say to them in this wise : 
" Oyez a Beaumont le vaillant," or what the hound 
is called. And if he seeth that the hare hath been 
at pasture in green corn or in any other place and 
his hounds find of her and that they fall well in 
enquest 4 (hunt) and chase it well, then he shall say 
" La Douce, la il a este " 5 and therewith "So 
howe " with a high voice, and if his hounds chase 

1 " Back there ! " from the Fr. arrz'eYe. 

2 " Out of couples, forward there, forward ! " (Precisely the 
same instructions are given by the later Twety and Gyfford.) 

3 " Gently, my friend, gently ! " 

4 Quest, hunt, seek, also challenge. 
6 " Softly, there he has been ! " 



HOW TO FIND THE HARE 183 

not well at his -pleasure and they grede (hunt) there 
where he has not pastured, then shall he say " Illeoqs 
illeoqs " 1 in the same place while they seek her. 
And then he should cast and look about the field, to 
see where she hath been and whether she hath pas- 
tured or not, or whether she he in her form, for she 
does not like to remain where she hath pastured 
except in time of relief If any hounds scent her, 
and she hath gone from thence to another place, he 
shall say thus to his hounds as loud as he can : " Ha 
cy douce cy et venuz arere, so howeP 2 And if he 
see that she be gone to the plain or the field or to 
arable land or into the wood, if his hounds get well 
on her scent, then he shall say : " La douce amy, il 
ad est illeoqs " 3 and therewith he shall say : " so- 
how illeoqs, sy douce cy v ay liant " 4 and twice 
" so-howe," and when he is come there where he 
supposeth the hare dwells then shall he say thus : 

1 " In this place," or " here, here." This passage, which 
reads somewhat confusedly in our MS., is clearer in Twety and 
Gyfford {Reliquiœ Antiquœ, vol. i. p. 149). It reads as follows : 
"And then ye shall blowe iij notes, yf yowr hund ne chace not 
well hym, there one ther another, as he hath pasturyd hym, ye 
shall say ' Illeosque, illeosque, illcosque] " meaning that 3 motes 
should be blown where the hare has pastured to bring your 
hounds to the place, illeosque meaning here, in this place. 

2 " Softly there, here she has been, back there." Following 
this the Shirley MS. and Twety and Gyfford contain a passage 
which our MS. has not got : "And thenne sa cy, a este sohoiu, 
and afterwards sa cy avaimt" 

3 " Softly, my friend, she has been here." 

4 " Here gently, here valiantly." 



i8 4 THE MASTER OF GAME 

" La douce la est il venuz " and therewith thrice 
" so-howe " and no more. And if he thinks he is 
sure to find her in any place then he shall say : 
" La douce how-here, how-here, how-here, how-here, 
douce how-here hozv-here" and when she is found 
and started he shall blow a mote and rechase l and 
holloa as often as he wishes and then say loud: 
" Oyez, ! a Beaumond " or what the hound is 
named, " le vailaunt oyez, oyez, oyez, who-bo- 
lowe," and then " Avaunte assemble, avaunte." 
And then should the horsemen keep well to one 
side and some way to the front with long rods in 
their hands to meet with her, and so blowe a mote 
and rechace and holloa and set the hounds in the 
rights if they see her, and also for to prevent any 
hound following sheep, or other beasts, and if they 
do to ascrie (rate) them sorely and dismount and 
take them up and lash them well, saying loud " Ware 
ware ha ha ware " and lash them back to their 
fellows, and if it happens that the hare be seated in 
her form in front of the hounds, and that they 
cannot find her as soon as they would, then shall he 
say : " How- s a amy sa sa acouplere, sa arere, so- 
how," but not (blow) the stynt too soon. And if 
he seeth that his hounds cannot put her up as soon as 
he would, then shall he blow the stynt, and say loud : 
" ho ho ore swef a la douce, a lui, a lui, so how 

1 To call back the hounds from a wrong scent, the same as 
" recheat." 




H =a 



HOW TO FIND THE HARE 185 

assamy, ass amy, la arere so-howe, venez acouplere," 

and thus as oft as the aforesaid case happeneth. 

And as oft as any hound catcheth it (the scent) he 

should hue to him by his name, and rout him to his 

fellows as before is said, but not rechace till the 

hare be found, or that some man meet it and blow 

the rights and holloa, or else that he findeth her 

pointing or pricking whichever it be, for both 

mean the same, but some call it the one and some 

the other. And if he find that he can well blow 

the rights and holloa and jopey three or four times 

and cry loud " le voy, le voy," till the hounds 

come thither and have well caught it. And (when) 

she is retrieved blow and holloa and rout to the 

hounds as it is said you should do at the finding, and 

follow after and foot it who can foot it. And if it 

happen when men hunt her and hounds chase her 

that she squat anywhere before the hounds, and that 

any hunter find her squatting, if the hounds be nigh 

about, he should blow a mote and rechace and start 

her, and then halloa and rout to them as above is 

said. And if he find her squat, and the hounds be 

far from him, then should he blow as I last said 

before, and after two motes for the hounds, and the 

berners that hear him should answer him thus 

" trut, trut, trut," and draw all towards him with 

the hounds as fast as they can, saying to their 

hounds : " so-how, mon amy, so-howe." And when 

they be there and the hounds have all come up, they 



1 86 THE MASTER OF GAME 

should check them with one of their rods, and when 
she is started, blow, holloa and rout as before is said, 
and according to what the case requireth, do as 
before is said and devised. And when she hath 
been well chased and well retrieved, notwithstanding 
her rusing and squatting and reseating, so that by 
strength at last she is bitten by the hounds, whoso is 
nearest should start to take her whole from them, and 
hold her in his one hand over his head high, and 
blow the death that men may gather thither, and 
when they be come, then should she be striked, all 
save the head, and the gall and the paunch cast 
away, and the remnant should be laid on a great 
staff or on a board, whoso hath it, or on the earth, 
and then it should be choked as small as it can be, 
so that it hang together ; and when it is so done 
then should one of the berners take it up with the 
head and hold it as high as he is able in his hands, 
and then whoso is most master, blow the death, and 
anon as he beginneth every man help and holloa. 
And when the hounds have bayed, as long as is 
wished by the aforesaid most master, then should 
the berner pull as high as he can every piece from 
the other and cast to every hound his reward. And 
then should the most master blow a mote and stroke, 
if so be that he thinks that the hounds have done 
enough, and else he should rest awhile, if the hounds 
be hot, till they be cooled, and then led to the water 
to lap. And then if he wish blow three motes and 




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HOW TO FIND THE HARE 187 

uncouple and speak and so do as before is said. 
And if they will seek a covert for the hare and set 
greyhounds without, they should blow and seek and 
speak in the manner as before is said, save that 
if the hounds find anything what so ever it be, he 
shall rally and jopey till he has seen it, or that he 
knows what it is {and if it be an hare do as above is 
said), 1 and if it be ought else he shall blow drawing 
with his horn and cry loud " So-how mon amy, 
so-how, sto arere, so-how, so-howe," and seek forth- 
with again with three long motes till the hare be 
found. Yet 7ievertheless if they be hart-hunters 
that seek a covert for the hare, and their hounds 
find a fox, whoso meeteth with him should blow out 
upon him to warn the fewterers 2 that there is a 
thief in the wood. And if they run at the hare and 
the hare happen to come out to the greyhounds in 
front of the raches and be killed, the fewterer that 
let run should blow the death and keep it as whole 
as he may till the hunters be come, and then should 
they reward the hounds as before is said. 

1 The words in brackets are in the Shirley MS. 

2 Huntsman holding- hounds in leash. 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

OF THE ORDINANCE AND THE MANNER OF 
HUNTING WHEN THE KING WILL HUNT IN 
FORESTS OR IN PARKS FOR THE HART 
WITH BOWS AND GREYHOUNDS AND STABLE 

The Master of the Game should he in accordance 
with the master forester or parker where it should 
he that the King should hunt such a day, and if 
the tract be wide, the aforesaid forester or parker 
should warn the sheriff of the shire where the hunt- 
ing shall he, for to order sufficient stable ^ and carts, 
also to bring the deer that should be slain to the 
place where the curées at huntings have been usually 
held. And thence he should warn the hunters and 
fewterers whither they should come, and the forester 
should have men ready there to meet them, that 
they go no farther, nor straggle about for fear of 
frightening the game, before the King comes. And 
if the hunting shall be in a park all men should 
remain at the park gate, save the stable that ought 
to be set ere the King comes, and they should be 

1 Men and hounds stationed at different places, usually on the 
boundaries of the district in which the game was to be roused 
and hunted, or at convenient passes from whence the hounds 
could be slipped at the game. 



THE MANNER OF HUNTING 189 

set by the foresters or parkers. And early in the 
morning the Master of the Game should be at the 
wood to see that all be ready, and he or his lieutenant 
or such hunters that he wishes, ought to set the grey- 
hounds and who so be teasers 1 to the King or to the 
Queen, or to their attendants. As often as any 
hart cometh out he should when he fasses blow a 
mote and recheat, and let slip to tease it forth, and 
if it be a stag, he should let him pass as I said and 
rally to warn the fewterers what is coming out. 
And to lesser deer should no wight let run, and if he 
hath seen the stag, not unless he were commanded. 2 
And then the master forester or parker ought to show 
him the King's standing if the King would stand 
with his bow, and where all the remnant of the 
bows would stand. And the yeoman for the King's 
bows ought to be there to keep and make the King's 
standing, and remain there without noise, till the 
King comes. And the grooms that keep the king's 
dogs and broken greyhounds should be there zvith 
him, for they belong to the yeomen's office, and also 
the Master of the Game should be informed by the 
forester or parker what game the king should find 
within the set, 3 and when all this is done, then 

1 Teasers, a small hound to tease forth or put up the game. 

2 A difficult sentence to unravel. In the Shirley MS. it 
runs : " and yif hit have eseyne nought to ye stagge, but yif he 
were avaunced." 

3 "Within the set" means within that quarter of the forest 
or park around which are set or stationed the men and hounds, 
called the stable. 



i 9 o THE MASTER OF GAME 

should the Master of the Game worthe (mount) 
upon (his) horse and meet the King and bring him 
to his standing and tell him what game is within the 
set, and how the greyhounds be set, and also the 
stable, and also tell him where it is best for him 
to stand with his bow or with his greyhounds, for 
it is to be known that the attendants of his chamber 
and of the queen's should be best placed, and the two 
few ter er s ought to make fair lodges of green boughs 
at the tryste to keep the King and Queen and ladies, 
and gentlewomen and also the greyhounds from the 
sun and bad weather. And when the King is at his 
standing or at his tryste, whichever he prefers, and 
the Master of the Game or his lieutenant have set 
the bows and assigned who shall lead the Queen to 
her tryste, then he should blow the three long motes 
for the uncoupling. And the hart hounds and the 
harriers that before have been led by some forester 
or parker thither where they should uncouple, and 
all the hounds that belong to both the mutes (packs) 
waiting for the Master of the Game's blowing. 
Then should the sergeant of the mute of the hart- 
hounds, if there be much rascal within the set, make 
all them of office, save the yeomen of the horse, 
hardel 1 their hounds, and in every hardel two or 
three couple of hounds at the most suffice. And 
then to stand abroad in the woods for relays, and 
then blow three motes to the uncoupling. And then 

1 To tie the couples of hounds together. 



THE MANNER OF HUNTING 191 

should the harrier uncouple his hounds and blow 
three motes and seek forth saying loud and long, 
" hoo sto ho sto, mon amy, ho sto " and if they draw 
far from him in any unruly manner he should 
speak to them in that case as when he seeketh for 
the hare. And as oft as he passes within the set 
from one quarter to another, he should blow drawing, 
and when he is passed the boundary of the quarter, 
and entered into a new quarter, he should blow three 
motes and seek forth, but if so be, that his hounds 
enchace anything as he wishes, and if any hound 
happen to find of the Kings (game), he should hue 
to him by his name and say loud : " Oyez a 
Bemond, oyez-oyez, assemble, assemble,'''' or what 
the hound is named, " assemble, assemble " and 
jopey and rally. And if it be an hart and any of 
the hart hounds meet with it they should blow a 
mote and rechace and relay, and go forth therewith 
all rechacing among. And if it come to the bows 
or to greyhounds and be dead, he should blow the 
death when he is come thither, and reward his 
hounds a little, and couple them up and go again to 
his place. And if the hart has escaped he should no 
longer rechace, but blow drawing and draw in again, 
and in the best way that he can, take up his hounds 
and get in front of them. And after that the har- 
riers have well run and well made the rascal void, 1 
then should the sergeant and the berner s of the hart 

1 Made the smaller deer clear out of the forest. 



192 THE MASTER OF GAME 

hounds blow three motes, the one after the other ana 
uncouple there where they suppose the best ligging 
(lair) is for a hart, and seek as before is said ; unless 
it be the season when the hart 9 s head is tender, then 
he shall use some of the aforesaid words of seeking 
to the hounds : " Le douiez, mon amy, le douiez, 
le doules," and if his hounds find anything do as 
before is said, and if it be a hart, do as above is 
said, as he may know by his fues or by men that 
meet with him. And if it be ought else, the berner 
ought to blow drawings and who meeteth with him 
(the hart) call to them, and the berner should say 
" Sto arere so how, so how." And if the lymerer 
meet withal, or see by the fues that it is an hart, he 
should sue thereto till he be dead. If it go to the 
greyhounds and if it go to the bows, and be smitten 
anon, as he findeth blood he should take up his 
hounds and lead them thence and reward them a 
little, and then if he escape out of the set, he should 
reward his hounds, and take them up and go again 
to the wood and look if he may meet with anything. 
And as often as he meeteth and findeth, or his 
hounds run on a fresh scent, do as before is said. 
And one thing is to be known, that the hart-hounds 
should never be uncoupled before any other, unless a 
hart be readily harboured, and that he may be 
sued to and moved with the lymer, or else that they 
be uncoupled to a herd of great male deer at the 
view, namely within a set in a forest or in a park, 





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THE "UNDOING" OR GRALLOCHING OF THE HART 

THE MASTER INSTRUCTING HIS HUNTERS HOW IT IS DONE 
(From IMS. f. fr. 616, Bib. Nat., Paris) 



THE MANNER OF HUNTING 193 

there where there is a great change of rascal. And 
that is the cause why the other hounds shall be first 
uncoupled to make the rascal void, for small deer 
will sooner leave their covert than will a great 
hart, unless it be a hind that hath her calf in the 
wood, and hath lately calved. And when the 
rascal is thus voided then the hart hounds are 
uncoupled and they find the great old wily deer that 
will not lightly void, and they enchace him well and 
lustily and make him void both to bows and to 
greyhounds, so that they fully do their duty. And 
all the while that the hunting lasteth should the 
carts go about from place to place for to bring the 
deer to the curée. And there should the server 1 
of the hall be to arrange the curves, and to lay the 
game in a row, all the heads one way — and every 
deer's feet to the other's back. The harts should 
be laid in two or three rows (by themselves) accord- 
ing to whether there be many or few, and the rascal 
in the same way by themselves, and they should take 
care that no man come within the curves till the 
King come, save the Master of the Game. And 
when the covert is well hunted and cleared, then 
should the Master of the Game come to the King to 
know . if he would hunt any piore. And if the 
King say yea, then shall the Master of the Game 
if the greyhounds or bows or stable need not to be 

1 The beginning of this sentence relating to the " server of 
the hall" is not in our MS. but in the Shirley MS. 

N 



i 9 4 THE MASTER OF GAME 

removed, blow two long motes for the hounds, and 
forthwith blow drawing with three long motes that 
men should stand still, and the hunters may know 
that they should come to a new seeking with their 
hounds. And when the hounds be come there where 
they should uncouple blow three long motes and do 
and seek and blow, as is before said. And if the 
bows and greyhounds and stable should be removed, 
then should he blow a mote and stroke, without the 
mote in the middle, for to draw men together, and 
thereby may men know that the king will hunt more 
ere he go home. And when men come together, then 
should the Master of the Game see to the placing 
of the King and of the Queen and of the bows and 
of the greyhounds and of the stable, as I have said 
here before, and the hunters to their seeking, and of 
all other things do in the same manner as I have 
said. And if the king will hunt no more, then 
should the Master of his Game, if the King will 
not blow, blow a mote and stroke with a mote in the 
middle and the sergeant or whoso bloweth next him, 
and no man else, should blow the first mote but only 
the middle, and so every man as oft as he likes to 
stroke, if they have obtained that which they hunted 
for. And the middle mote should not be blown save 
by him that bloweth next the master. And thereby 
may men know as they hear men stroke homeward 
whether they have well sped or not. And this way 



THE MANNER OF HUNTING 195 

of stroking should serve in the manner I have re- 
hearsed for all hunting save when the hart is slain 
with strength. And when the mote is blown and 
stroked, then should the Master of the Game lead 
the King to the curée, and show it him, and no man 
as I have said above should come within it, but 
every man (keep) without it. And then the King 
shall tell the Master of the Game what deer he 
would were (given away) and to whom, and (after 
this) if the King wishes to stay he may. Never- 
theless he usually goes home when he hath done 
this. And then should the Master of the Game 
begin at one row and so forth, and tythe all the deer 
right as they lie, rascal and others, and deliver it to 
the proctors of the church that ought to have it. 
And then (separate) the deer that the king com- 
manded him to deliver, and if any of them that 
should have part of the deer be not there he should 
charge the master forester to send it home, and then 
he should deliver a certain (part) of the remnant to 
the afore said sewers and to the sergeant of the 
larder and the remnants should be given by the 
Master of the Game, some to the gentlemen of the 
country by the information of the forester or parker, 
as they have been friendly to the bailie, and the 
remnant to the officers and hunters as he liketh best. 
And it is to be known that every man bow and 
fewterer that hath slain anything should mark it 



196 THE MASTER OF GAME 

that he might challenge his fee, and have it at the 
curée, hut let him beware that he marks no lord's 
mark nor (other) fewterers nor hunters, or he will 
lose his fee. And also it is to he known that the 
fees of all follies belong to the master of the harriers, 
if so he that he or his deputy he at the hunting, and 
blow three motes and else not, in which case the 
Master of the Game can give it to whom he wishes 
save what the King slayeth with his bow or the 
Queen or my lord the prince, or that which they 
bid with their own mouth to let run to. And all 
shall be judged folly of red deer which is beneath 
the hart, and of fallow deer which is beneath the 
buck, nevertheless if the harrier would challenge 
the deer for folly, and it is not folly, if there be a 
strife with him who asketh the fee, the Master of 
the Game shall judge it, and right so shall he do 
of all these strifes for fees between bow and bow, 
and fewterer and fewterer, and of all other strifes 
and discords that belong to hunting. And when all 
the deer be delivered, and the hunters and the 
fewterers of the kennel be assigned to undo the deer 
that be delivered for the king's larder, then should 
the grooms chacechiens of the hart-hounds gather 
the paunches and small guts together and do with 
them as is advised in the chapter of the hart hunting 
with strength, and get them a skin to lie thereover, 
and do as in the same chapter described with the 



THE MANNER OF HUNTING 197 

greatest and best head (antlers) that they can find 
in all the curée. Save the blowing of the frise and 
the stroking and the menée, the bay should wait till 
the curées be done, and the flesh taken away, and 
there should the Master of the Game be, and the 
sergeant and all the yeomen and grooms of the 
office. And if the greyhounds 1 shall be rewarded 
it should be done right as is devised in the aforesaid 
chapter, except that the blowings above described 
shall be left out. And also whosoever slew the 
deer the yeomen of the office should have the skin 
that lyeth upon the deer when the hounds are re- 
warded. And also it is to know that the harriers 
when they have run shall be rewarded with the 
paunches and guts, but there is no need to make a 
long bay with the hart's head to them, for they are 
made to run and chase all game that one wishes, and 
that is the cause why the master of them has the fees 
of all deer save the hart and the buck, unless it be 
in the certain case before mentioned. And when 
the cure'e is done, and the bay made, then is the 
time for every man to draw homeward to his supper 
and to make himself as merry as he can. And when 
the yeomen berner s and grooms .have led home the 
hounds and set them well up and supplied them 
with water and straw according to what they need, 
then should they go to their supper and drink well 

1 Shirley MS., "harthounds." 



198 THE MASTER OF GAME 

and make merry. And of the fees it is to be known 
that the man whoever he be, who has smitten a deer 
while -posted at his tree with a death-stroke so that 
the deer be got before the sun goes down, he shall 
have the skin. And if he be not posted or has gone 
from his tree, or has done otherwise than is said, he 
shall have none. And as of the fewterers, if they 
be posted, the first teaser and receiver 1 that draweth 
the deer down shall divide the skin. 2 Nevertheless 
in other lord's hunting whoso pincheth first and 
goeth therewith to the death he shall have the 
skin. And all the deer's necks are the hunters, and 
one shoulder and the chine is his that undoeth the 
deer, and the other shoulder is the forester's or the 
parker's fee that keepeth the bailie that is hunted. 
And all the skins of harts slain with strength of the 
hart-hounds, belong to the master of the hart-hounds 
as his fee, that is to say he that hath the wages of 
twelve pence a day for the office. It is to be known 
that when the king hunteth in the park or in the 
forest with bows and greyhounds, and it happens 
that any hart be slain with strength of hart-hounds, 
all the hart hunters after the King or the Master of 
his Game have blown a mote and stroked, all day 
they should stroke the assise that belongeth to the 

1 Shirley MS. has " resteynour." 

2 This means that the men in whose charge the teasers and 
receivers were placed were given the skin or fee. 



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hart slain with strength, but not with eight 
motes, but with four short and four long motes, as is 
in the aforesaid chapter plainly devised. And all 
the other hunters should stroke the common stroking 
as is above described and said. 



END OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM MS. 
VESPASIAN B. XII. 



The following is the concluding passage 
of the Shirley Manuscript (Add. MS. 
16, 165) in the British Museum : — 

Now I pray unto every creature that hath heard 
or reaà this little treatise of whatever estate or 
condition he be that there where there is too little 
of good language that of their benignity and grace 
they will add more, and there where there is too 
much superfluity that they will also abridge it as 
may seem best by their good and wise discretion. 
Not presuming that I had over much knowledge 
and ability to put into writing this royal disportful 
and noble game of hunting so effectually that it 
might not be submitted to the correction of all gentle 
hunters. And in my simple manner as best I 
could and as might be learned of old and many 
diverse gentle hunters, I did my business in this 
rude manner to put the craft and the terms and the 
exercise of this said game more in remembrance 
and openly to the knowledge of all lords, ladies, 
gentlemen and women, according to the customs and 
manners used in the high noble court of this Realm 
of England* 

ftnis 



APPENDIX 



ACQUILLEZ, Fr., to take, to hold at bay, to gather. 
" Et s'il voit que les chiens heussent acueili le change " 
(G. de F., p. 156) — "if he sees that the hounds have 
taken the change." It also denotes : " owning to the 
scent " (Senechal, p. 8 ; Roy Modus, xxix. v). 

Twici says : " Les chevereaus ne sunt mie enchacez 
ne aquyllees," which Dryden translates, " the roebuck 
is not chased nor hunted up," from enqulller or aquiller^ 
O. Fr. a form of accuellir, to push, put in motion, excite. 
"The word in English which is nearest to it is 'to 
imprime,' which was afterwards used for the unhar- 
bouring of the hart " (Twici, p. 26). 

In the old English translation of Twici (Vesp. B. 
XII.) aquylees is construed " gadered," which is certainly 
one sense, but not the one here required (Twici, p. 53). 

The " Master of Game " translates ils accueillent in 
G. de. F., p. 112, by " they run to them " (p. 1 1 1. See 
also Godefroy). 

AFFETED, Mid. Eng., afaiten ; O. Fr. afaitier, 
to trim, to fashion. A well-affaited or affeted head, 
a well-fashioned or good-shaped head. In speaking of 
stags' antlers, means regularly tinèd and well grown. 

Affeted also meant trained or tamed, reclaimed, made 
gentle, thoroughly manned. Affaiter is still in use in 
M. Fr., as a term of falconry. 

We find this word employed in this sense in the 
Vision of Piers Plowman (1362) : "And go affayte the 



202 APPENDIX 

Fawcons, wilde fowles to kill." And in O. Fr. sport- 
ing literature one constantly reads of " Chiens bien, 
affaities" (well-broken dogs); "oiseaux bien affaities" 
(well-trained hawks). Roy Modus, lxxix. ; Bormans, 
p. 52 ; La Chace dou Cerf, Jub. 157 ; T.M. vol. ii. 
P- 933- 

ALAUNTES, Allaunts, Canis Alanus ; Fr. alans. 
Also spelt alande, alaunt, allaundes, Aloundys (MS. Brit. 
Mus., Egerton, 1995). See also Twici, p. 56. 

A strong, ferocious dog, supposed to have been brought 
to Western Europe by a Caucasian tribe called Alains 
or Alani. This tribe invaded Gaul in the fourth cen- 
tury, settling there awhile, and then continued their 
wanderings and overran Spain. It is from this country 
that the best alans were obtained during the Middle 
Ages, and dogs that are used for bull- or bear-baiting 
there are still called Alanos. Gaston de Foix, living on 
the borders of this country, was in the best position to 
obtain such dogs, and to know all about them. His 
description, which we have here, tallies exactly with 
that written in a Spanish book, Libra de la Monteria, 
on hunting of the fourteenth century, written by 
Alphonso XL 

Alauntes were used as war dogs, and it was said that 
when once they seized their prey they would not loose 
their hold. 

Cotgrave (Sherwood's App.) says that the mastiff 
resembles an Alan, and also Wynn in his book on the 
"British Mastiff" (p. 45) says that he is inclined to 
think that the Alan is the ancient name for mastiff, and 
thinks it possible that the Phoenicians brought this breed 
to the British Isles. He cannot have known the descrip- 
tion given us of the Alan by the " Master of Game," 
nor can he have been acquainted with the work of 
Gaston Phoebus, for he says that the Alan is not men- 
tioned among any of the earlier dogs of France and 
Germany. There is ample evidence that they existed 



APPENDIX 203 

in France from very early days. Probably they were 
relics left there by the Alani in their wanderings through 
Gaul. About the same period as our MS. we find Alans 
mentioned by Chaucer, who in the " Knight's Tale " 
describes Lycurgus seated on his throne, around which 
stand white Alaunts as big as bulls wearing muzzles and 
golden collars. 

The ancient Galio-Latin name of veltrahus, or ve/tris, 
which in the first instance denoted a large greyhound 
used for the chase of the bear and wild boar, passed later 
to a different kind of dog used for the same purpose. 
These ve/tres, viautres, or vautres were also known under 
the name of Alan, and resembled the Great Dane or 
the German Boarhound (De Noir., vol. ii. p. 295-7). 

ANTLER, O. Fr. auntilor, antoil/er, or andoiller, de- 
rived from a Teutonic root ; Anglo-Saxon andwlit ; 
Frank, antlutt or antluzze ; Goth, andawleiz ; O. Ger. 
antliz ; face. Gaston Phcebus and Roy Modus and 
other old French authors almost invariably use teste, or 
head, when referring to a hart's antlers, but English 
writers did not observe time-hallowed terms of venery 
so rigorously, and our author frequently uses the jarring 
and, from every point of view, incorrect term "horns" 
when speaking of the hart's attire or head. The sub- 
stance of deers' antlers is true bone, the proportion of 
their constituents differing but very slightly from ordinary 
bones. The latter, when in a healthy condition, consist 
of about one-third of animal matter or gelatine, and two- 
thirds of earthy matter, about six-sevenths of which is 
phosphate of lime and one-seventh carbonate of lime, 
with an appreciable trace of magnesia. The antlers of 
deer consist of about thirty-nine parts of animal matter 
and sixty-one parts of earthy matter of the same kind 
and proportion as is found in common bone. Later on, 
a more sportsmanlike regard for terms of venery is ob- 
servable, and Turbervile in one of his few original pas- 
sages impresses upon his fellow-sportsmen : " Note that 



204 APPENDIX 

when you speake of a harts homes, you must terme them 
the Head and not the Homes of a hart. And likewise 
of a bucke ; but a Rowes homes and a Gotes homes are 
tollerable termes in Venery " (1611, p. 239). 

Up to the end of the seventeenth century it was cus- 
tomary when speaking of a stag's head to refer only to 
the tines " on top," or the " croches " or " troches," leav- 
ing unconsidered the brow, bez and trez tines, which 
were called the stag's " rights," and which every warrant- 
able hart was supposed as a matter of course to possess. 
When referring to the number of tines a head bore, it 
was invariably the rule to use only even numbers, and 
to double the number of tines borne by the antler which 
had most. Thus, a stag with three on each top was a 
head of " twelve of the less " (or " lasse ") ; " twelve of 
the greater" when he had three and four on top, or, 
counting the rights, six and seven tines, or, as a modern 
Scotch stalker would call it, a thirteen-pointer. The 
extreme number of tines a hart was supposed to bear 
was thirty-two. 

BERCELET, barcelette, bercelette, is a corruption of 
the O. Fr. berseret, a hunting dog, dim. of bersier, a 
huntsman ; in Latin, bersarius, French, berser, bercer, to 
hunt especially with the bow. Berce/, biercel, meant a 
butt or target. Italian, bersaglio, an archer's butt, whence 
bersag/iere, archer or sharpshooter (Oxford, and Godefroy 
Diet.). 

Given the above derivation, it may be fairly accepted 
that bercelet was a dog fitted to accompany a hunter who 
was going to shoot his game — a shooting dog. The 
" Master of Game's " allusion also points to this. He 
says some mastiffs {see Mastiff) become " berslettis, and 
also to bring well and fast a wanlace about." We might 
translate this sentence : " There are nevertheless some 
(mastiffs) that become shooting dogs, and retrieve well 
and put up the game quickly " {see Appendix : Wanlace). 

Jesse conceives bracelettas and bercelettus to come from 



APPENDIX 205 

brache, but that can scarcely be so, as we see the two 
words used together, as the following quotations will 
show : 

" Parler m'orez d'un buen brachet. 
Qens ne rois n'ont tel berseret." 

T. M. i. 14404. 

When the fair Ysolt is parting from her lover Tristan 
she asks him to leave her this same brachet, and says that 
no huntsman's shooting dog will be kept with more 
honour : 

" Husdent me lesse, ton brachet. 
Ainz berseret à vénéor 
N'ert gardée à tel honor 
Comme cist sera." 

Ibid. i. 2660. 

Jesse quotes Blount's "Antient Tenures": "In the 
6th of John, Joan, late wife of John King, held a ser- 
jeantry in Stanhow, in the county of Norfolk, by the 
service of keeping 'Bracelettum deymerettum of our 
Lord the King,' " and Jesse thinks these might have been 
a bitch pack of deerhounds, overlooking the fact that it 
was only in later days that the words brache and rache 
were used for bitch hounds. As deymerettum meant 
fallow deer, the bracelettum or bercelettum deymerettum may 
be taken, I think, to mean those hounds that were used 
for buck-shooting (Jesse, ii. 21). 

BERNER, bernar ; O. Fr. bernier, brenier, a man 
who has the charge of hounds, a huntsman, or, perhaps, 
would be more accurately described as a kennelman. 
The word seems to have been derived from the French 
brenler or bernier^ one who paid his dues to his feudal 
lord in bran of which bread was made for the lord's 
hounds. Brenage^ brennage, or bernage was the tenure on 
which land was held by the payment of bran, and the 
refuse of all grains, for the feeding of hounds. Berner 
in its first sense meant finder of bran, then feeder of 



2o6 APPENDIX 

hounds. This word seems to have remained in use in 
England long after it had disappeared from the language 
of French venery. Gaston no longer uses the word 
berner, but has valet de chiens. 

BISSHUNTERS, furhunters. Our MS. (p. 74) de- 
clares that no one would hunt conies unless they were 
bisshunters, that is to say rabbits would not be hunted 
for the sake of sport, but only for the sake of their skins. 
Bisse, bys, byse was a fur much in vogue at the period of 
our MS., as its frequent mention in contemporaneous 
records testifies. 

BLENCHES, trick, deceit; O. N. blekkja (Strat.). 
Blanch, or blench, to head back the deer in its flight. 
Blancher or blencher, a person or thing placed to turn 
the deer in a particular direction. 

BO CE, from the French bosse, O. Fr. boce, boss, hump 
or swelling. Cotgrave says : " Boss, the first putting out 
of a Deere's head, formerly cast, which our woodmen 
call, if it bee a red Deere's, the burle, or seale, and, if a 
fallow Deeres, the button." 



BOUGHS, bowes [brisées). When the huntsman 
went to harbour the deer he broke little branches or twigs 
to mark the place where he noticed any signs of a stag. 
Also, at times during the chase he was instructed to do 
the same, placing the twigs pointing towards the direction 
the stag had gone, so that if the hounds lost the scent he 
could bring them back to his last markings, and put them 
on the line again. In harbouring the stag a twig was 
broken off and placed in front of the slot with the end 
pointing in the direction in which the stag was going ; 
each time the harbourer turned in another direction a 
twig was to be broken and placed so as to show which 
way he took ; sometimes the twig was merely bent and 



APPENDIX 207 

left hanging on the tree, sometimes broken off and put 
into the ground (in French this was called making brisées 
hautes or brisées basses). When making his ring- walks 
round the covert the harbourer was told to put a mark 
to every slot he came across ; the slot of a stag was to 
be marked by scraping a line behind the heel, of a hind 
by making a line in front of the toe. If it was a fresh 
footing a branch or twig should be placed as well as the 
marking, for a hind one twig, for a stag two. If it be a 
stale trace no twig must be placed. Thus, if he returned 
later, the hunter would know if any beast had broken 
from or taken to covert since he harboured his stag in 
the morning. When the harbourer went to " move " 
the stag with his limer he was to make marks with 
boughs and branches so that the berners with their hounds 
should know which way to go should they be some 
distance from the limer (Roy Modus, x. v ; xii. r ; 
xiii. r ; Du Fouilloux, 32 r). Blemish is the word used 
by Turbervile for brisées (Turbervile, 161 1, p. 95, 104, 
114). 

CHANGE. The change, in the language of stag 
hunting, was the substitution of one deer for another in 
the chase. After the hounds have started chasing a stag, 
the hunted animal will often find another stag or a hind, 
and pushing it up with its horns or feet will oblige it to 
get up and take his place, lying down himself in the spot 
where he found the other, and keeping quiet, with his 
antlers close over his back, so that the hounds will, if 
care is not taken, go off in chase of the substitute. Some- 
times a stag will go into a herd of deer and try to keep 
with them, trying to shake off his pursuers, and thus give 
them the change. 

A hound that sticks to the first stag hunted, and re- 
fuses to be satisfied with the scent of another deer, is 
called a staunch hound, one who will not take the 
change, which was considered one of the most desirable 
qualities in a staghound. G. de F., in speaking of the 



2o8 APPENDIX 

different kinds of running hounds, says that there were 
some that, when they came to the change, they would 
leave off speaking to the scent, and would run silently 
until they found the scent of their stag again (G. de F., 
p. 109). 

CUREE, Kyrre, Quyrreye, or Quarry. The cere- 
mony of giving the hounds their reward was thus called 
because it was originally given to the hounds on the 
hide or cuir of the stag. 

Twici, the huntsman of Edward IL, says that after 
the stag is taken the hounds should be rewarded with 
the neck and bowels and the liver. (" Et il se serra 
mange sur le quir. E pur ceo est il apelee quyrreye.") 
When the hounds receive their reward after a hare-hunt 
he calls it the hallow. In the " Boke of St. Albans " we 
find the quarry given on the skin, and it is only in the 
" Master of Game " that it is expressly stated that a nice 
piece of grass was to be found on which the hounds' 
mess was to be put, and the hide placed over it, hair-side 
upwards, the head being left on it and held up by the 
antlers, and thus drawn away as the hounds rush up to 
get their share. According to Turbervile, in his day the 
reward was placed on the hide ; at least he does not in 
his original chapter on the breaking up of the deer notice 
any such difference between the French and English 
customs. In France, it is as well to expressly state, the 
curée was always given on the hide until the seventeenth 
century, but after that it seems the hide was placed over 
it just as described in our text (De Noirmont, vol. ii., 
p. 458). Preceding the quarry came the ceremonial 
breaking up of the deer. The stag was laid on its back 
with feet in the air, slit open, and skinned by one of the 
chief huntsmen, who took a pride in doing it according 
to laws of woodmanscraft. They took a pride in not 
turning up their sleeves and performing everything so 
daintily that their garments should show no bloodstains ; 
nobles, and princes themselves, made it a point of honour 



APPENDIX 209 

to be well versed in this art. After the skinning was 
done, it was customary to give the huntsman who was 
"undoing" the deer a drink of wine; "and he must 
drinke a good harty draught : for if he should break up 
the dear before he drinke the Venison would stink and 
putrifie" (Turb., 161 1, p. 128). 

In the " Master of Game " the limers were rewarded 
after the other hounds, but they were never allowed to 
take their share with the pack. 

The bowels or guts were often reserved, and put on a 
large wooden fork, and the hounds were allowed to have 
this as a sort of dessert after they had finished their 
portion. They were halloaed to by the huntsman 
whilst he held the fork high in the air with cries of 
Tally ho ! or Tiel haut ! or Lau, lau ! This tit-bit was 
then thrown to them. This was called giving them 
the forhu, from the word forthuer, to whoop or holloa 
loudly. Probably our term of giving the hounds the 
holloa was derived from this. It was done to accustom 
the hounds to rally round the huntsman when excited 
by a similar halloaing when they were hunting, and had 
lost the line of the hunted beast. 

In some instances the daintiest morsels were reserved 
for the King or chief personage, and for this purpose 
placed on a large wooden fork as they were taken 
from the deer. The vein of the heart and the small 
fillets attached to the loins (Turbervile says also the 
haunches, part of the nombles and sides) should also be 
kept for the lord, but these were generally recognised as 
the perquisites of the huntsmen, kennelmen, foresters, or 
parkers. 

EXCREMENTS, fumes, fewmets, obs. term for the 
droppings of deer. From the Yx. fumées. G. de F. says 
that the droppings of all deer, including fallow and roe 
deer, are to be called fumées. The " Master of Game," 
no doubt following the custom then prevalentin England, 
says the droppings of the hart only are to be called fumes, 

O 



2io APPENDIX 

and of the buck and the roebuck croties. The following 
names are given to droppings by — 

Gaston de Foix and Master of Game 

Of the hart "l Of the hart— Fumes. 

,, buck > Fumées. ,, buck ) rr . ic 

,, roebuck/ „ roebuck j" <~ rote y s - 

,, bear \ ,, wild boar ^ 

wild boar VLaisses. ,, black beasts and V Lesses. 

,, wolf j wolves j 

,, hare and conies — Crotes. ,, hare and Conies — Croties. 

,, fox, badger, and \ Fi „ fox— The wagging. 

stinking beasts j ' ,, grey or badger — The Ward- 

, , otter — Spraintes. robe. 

,, stinking beasts — The Drit. 
otter — Spraintes. 

Other forms of this term are : fewmets, fewmishing, 
crotels, crotisings, freyn, fuants, billetings, and spraits. 

FENCE MONTH. The month so called began, 
according to Manwood, fifteen days before and ended 
fifteen days after midsummer. During this time great 
care was taken that no men or stray dogs should be 
allowed to wander in the forest, and no swine or cattle 
were allowed to feed within the precincts, so that the 
deer should be absolutely undisturbed during three or 
four weeks after the fawning season. He tells us that 
because in this month there must be watch and ward 
kept with men and weapons for the fence and defence of 
wild beasts, for that reason the same is called fence or 
defence month (Man., p. 76, ed. 1598). 

FEWTE, fuite, fute (M. E.), O. Fr. fuite (voie de 
cerf qui fuit), track, trace, foot. Gawaine : feute. Will 
of Palerne (90) : foute. Some beasts were called of the 
sweet fute, and some of the stinking fute. The lists of 
the beasts which should come under either heading vary 
somewhat ; some that are placed by the " Boke of St. 
Albans " under " Swete fewte " coming under the other 
category in the MS. Harl., 2340. 



APPENDIX 2ii 

In "Boke of St. In Harl. MS. 2340, 

Albans." fol. 50b. 

Beasts of" Swete fewte." 

The Buck, the Doo, the The Buke, the Doo, the 

Beere, the Reynd, the Ber, the Reyne der, the 

Elke, the Spycard, the Elke, the Spycard. 
Otre, and the Martwn. 

Beasts of the " Stinking few te" 

The Roobucke, the Roo, ..... 

the Fulmard, the Fyches, The Fulmard, the Fechewe, 
the Bauw, the Gray, the Catt, the Gray, the 

the Fox, the Squirrel, Fox, the Wesyll, the 

the Whitecat, the Otyr, Marteron, the Squirrel, 

the Stot, the Pulcatt. the Whyterache, the 

Otyr, the Stote, the 

Polcatte. 

In Roy Modus the beasts are also divided into bestes 
doulces and bestes puans. The reasons for doing so are 
also given (fol. lxii.) : " Les bestes doulces sont : le cerf la 
biche, le dain, le chevreul et le lièvre. Et sont appelées 
doulces pour trois causes : La première si est que d'elles ne 
vient nulle mauvais senteur ; la seconde, elles ont poil de 
couleur aimable, lequel est blond ou fauve ; la tierce cause, ce 
ne sont mie bestes mordans comme les autres cincq, car elles 
n'ont nulz dens dessus ; et pour ces raisons puent bien estre 
nommées bestes doulces" Under the bestes puans are classed 
the wild boar, the wild sow, the wolf, the fox, and 
the otter. 

FEWTERER, the man that lets loose the grey- 
hounds (Blome, p. 27) ; from veltraria, a dog leader or 
courser ; originally one who led the dogs called veltres, 
viautres (see Veltres). In Gallo-Latin, Veltrahus. It 
has been asserted that the word fewterer is a corruption 



2i2 APPENDIX 

of vautre or viautre, a boarhound, but although both 
evidently owe their origin to the same parent-word, 
fewterer can scarcely be derived from vautre, a boar- 
hound. It was only in the Middle Ages in France that 
the word vautre, from originally meaning a powerful 
greyhound, was applied to a large boarhound. Fewterers 
in England appear invariably as attendants on grey- 
hounds, not boarhounds. Another derivation has been 
also given from fewte, foot or track, a fewterer being, 
according to this, a huntsman who followed the track of 
the beast. But venator was the contemporary designa- 
tion for a huntsman, and as far as we can ascertain the 
fewterer was always merely a dog-leader. 

' FORLONGE, forloyng, forlogne, from the Fr. fort 
loin. G. de F. says, "flies far from the hounds," i.e. 
having well distanced them (" Fuit de fort longe aux chiens, 
c'est a dire que il les ait bien esloinhes "). Hounds are said 
to be hunting the forlonge when the deer is some way 
in front of them, or when some of the hounds have got 
away with the deer and have outpaced the rest. As our 
MS. (p. 173) says, the forlogne should be blown if the 
stag has run out of hearing of hound and horn, but it 
should not be blown in a park. In old French hunt- 
ing literature it is an expression one constantly comes 
across. 

Twici, writing almost a hundred years earlier than 
the Duke of York, says : " The hart is moved and I do 
not know where the hart is gone, nor the gentlefolk, and 
for this I blow in that manner. What chase do we call 
this ? We call that chase The chase of the forloyng." 

Forloyneth : " When a hound meeteth a chase and 
goeth away with it far before the rest then we say he 
forloyneth" (Turber., ed 161 1, p. 245). 

FOX. According to the laws of Canute the fox was 
neither reckoned as a beast of venery nor of the forest. 
In Manwood's Forest Laws he is classed as the third 



APPENDIX 213 

beast of chase (p. 161), as he is also in Twety and 
Gyfford, and the « Boke of St. Albans." 

Although early records show that the English Kings 
kept their foxhounds, we hear nothing of their having 
participated in this sport, but they seem to have sent 
their hounds and huntsmen about the country to kill 
foxes, probably as much for the value of the pelt as for 
relieving the inhabitants of a thievish neighbour. 

In Edward's I.'s Wardrobe Accounts, 1 299-1 300, ap- 
pear some interesting items of payments made to the 
huntsman for his wages and the keep of the hounds and 
his one horse for carrying the nets. These allusions to 
nets throw an interesting light on the fox-hunting of 
those days. William de Blatherwyke, or, as he is also 
called, William de Foxhunte, and William Fox-dog-keeper^ 
had besides their wages an allowance made to them for 
clothes and winter and summer shoes [see Appendix : 
Hunt Officials). As only one horse was provided, and 
that to carry the nets, the huntsman, we must presume, 
had to hunt on foot, not such an arduous undertaking 
when we remember that the country was so much more 
thickly wooded than at present, and that every possible 
precaution was taken to prevent Reynard's breaking 
covert. 

We see by our text (p. 65) that it was usual to 
course foxes with greyhounds, and although the passages 
referring to this are translated from G. de F. we know 
from many old records that this fox-coursing was as usual 
in England at this time as in France. 

In the earlier days hounds used for the chase of the 
fox one day, probably hunted hare, or even buck or stag, 
on another — such as the harriers,, which, if we can be- 
lieve Dr. Caius, were entered to any animal from stag to 
stoat [see Appendix : Harriers). The first real pack of 
foxhounds is said to be the one established by Thomas 
Fownes, Esq., of Stepleton, in Dorsetshire (1730). They 
were purchased at an immense price by Mr. Bowes, of 
Yorkshire. A very amusing description is given in 



2i 4 APPENDIX 

" Cranbourne Chase " of the first day's hunting with 
them in their new country. There must have been 
several packs entered to fox only about the end of the 
eighteenth century, for an erstwhile Master of the Cheshire 
Foxhounds had in his possession a horn with the follow- 
ing inscription : "Thomas Boothby Esqre. Tooley Park 
Leicester. With this horn he hunted the first pack of 
foxhounds then in England 5 years : born in 1677 died 
1752." This pack, which was purchased by " the great 
Mr. Meynell " in 1782, had been hunted both in Hamp- 
shire and in Wiltshire previously by the ancestors of Lord 
Arundel (Bad. Lib., " Hunting," p. 29). 

FRAYING-POST, the tree a stag has rubbed his 
antlers or frayed against. 

By the fraying-post the huntsman used to be able to 
judge if the stag he wished to harbour was a warrantable 
stag or not. The greater the fraying-post the larger the 
deer (Stuart, vol. ii. p. 551). 

FUES, " not find his fues," not to find his line of 
flight, his scent ; Gaston says : " Ne puissent deffaire ses 
esteurses " : literally, "cannot unravel his turnings." 

Fues, flight, fuite, track. Gaston calls these sometimes 
voyes. Voyes was written later Foyes (Fouilloux). 

Fue. " Se mettre a la fue " (var./w/V), (to take flight) 
(Borman, p. 89). 

GLADNESS, glade. The original sense is a smooth, 
bare place, or perhaps a bright, clear place in a wood. 

GREASE. One of the important technical terms of 
venery, related to the fat of game ; for in the Middle Ages, 
when game was hunted to replenish the larder as much as 
for sport, it entered largely into the economy of even the 
highest households. The fat of the red deer and fallow 
deer was called suet, occasionally tallow. That of the roe- 
buck was bevy-grease. Between that of the hare, boar, 



APPENDIX 215 

wolf, fox, marten, otter, badger, and coney no difference 
was made — it was called grease ; and in one sense this 
general term was also used for deer : " a deer of high 
grease," or " a hart in the pride of grease," were phrases 
used for the season of the year when the stag and the 
buck were fattest (see Appendix : Seasons of Hunting). 

GREASE TIME, not Grace Time or Grass Time, as 
Strutt and others have it. It did not include the whole 
season when the hart or buck could be killed, but meant 
to indicate the time when they were fat and fittest for 
killing. As pointed out already by Dryden (p. 25), the 
Excerpta Historica (Lond. 183 1) contains an interesting 
example of the use of this word. This is a letter written 
(p. 356) about 1480 by Thomas Stonor, Steward of the 
Manor of Thame. He was in Fleet Prison at the time 
he writes to his brother in the country concerning some 
property of his own in his brother's neighbourhood. " No 
more to you e at thys tyme but . . . more ov r I entende 
to kepe my gresse tyme in yat countre, where fore I woll e 
yat no man e huntte tyll e I have bene ther." 

In the privy-purse expenses of Henry VIII. (1532) is 
an entry of a payment for attendance on the king during 
the last grece-time. Cavendish in his Life of Wolsey says : 
" My lord continued at Southwell until the latter end of 
grease time.'' 1 Both these passages refer to the month of 
June. In the laws of Howel the Good, King jf Wales, 
a fine of 12 kine was imposed on whoever kills a hart in 
grease time (kylleic) of the kings. 

Confusion arose occasionally owing to the similarity of 
the words as formerly spelt, grass being sometimes spelt 
" grysse " (Dryden, p. 25). Manwood, also, misinterprets 
Grease time. In the agreement between the Earl of 
Winchester and the Baron of Dudley of 1247, m wmcn 
their respective rights of hunting in Charnwood Forest 
and Bradgate Park, Leicestershire, were defined, and which 
agreement Shirley has given (in a translation) in his 
" English Deer Parks," the time of the fallow buck season 



2i6 APPENDIX 

{tempus pinguedinis) or grease time or the fat season, is 
fixed between the Feast of St. Peter ad Vincula (August i) 
and the Exaltation of Holy Cross (September 6, 14), 
while the time of the doe season [tempus firmationis) was 
fixed between the Feast of St. Martin (November 11) 
and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin (February 2). 

GREYHOUND, Fr. lévrier, Lat. kporarius. Under 
this name a whole group of dogs were included, that were 
used for the chase of big and small game. They were 
swift hounds, hunting chiefly and in most cases by sight 
only. For in the Middle Ages the name greyhound, or 
lévrier, denoted such seemingly different dogs as the im- 
mense Irish wolfhound, the Scotch deerhound, and the 
smaller, smooth-coated, elegant Italian greyhound. The 
powerful greyhound used for the chase of stag, wolf, and 
wild boar were known in France as lévrier d'attache^ and 
the smaller, nervous harehound as petit lévrier pour lièvre. 
In our illustrations we can see what are intended to be 
portraits of both the larger and the smaller kinds, some 
being smooth- and some rough-coated. The bigger hounds 
were considered capable of defending their masters against 
their armed enemies, as is shown by numerous legends of 
the Middle Ages, which, although they may not be strictly 
historical facts, showed the reputation these dogs enjoyed 
in those days (Jesse, p. 19). 

Greyhounds were the constant companions of their 
masters during journeys and wars, and at home. In the 
houses they were allowed the greatest liberty, and seem 
to have ranged at will in both living- and bedrooms ; one 
sees them at the board when their owners are at meals, 
at the fireside, and they even accompanied their masters 
as good Christians to mass. 

No hound seems to belong so peculiarly to the epoch 
of chivalry as the greyhound, and indeed one can scarcely 
picture a knight without one. A Welsh proverb declared 
that a gentleman might be known " by his hawk, his horse, 
and his greyhound." By a law of Canute, a greyhound 



APPENDIX 217 

was not to be kept by any person inferior to a gentleman 
(" Greyhounds," by a Sportsman, p. 28 ; and Dalziel, 
vol. i. p. 25). 

Cauls Gallkus was the name used by the Gauls for their 
coursing dogs, which were most probably greyhounds, 
and Arian says they were called Vertragia, from a Celtic 
word denoting swiftness. In Gallo-Latin the name for 
a large greyhound was Veltrahus or veltris (De Noir., ii. 
295). They were also called Veltres leporarii (Blane, 
p. 46). There is some difference of opinion as to the 
derivation of our word greyhound. In the early Anglo- 
Norman days they retained their French name of lévrier, 
or Latin leporarius. When our MS. was penned the 
English word grei, gre, or grewhound was in general use ; 
it is thought by some to be derived from Grew hound or 
Greek hound, as they were supposed to have been origi- 
nally brought from Greece. Others, again, consider that 
the name was simply taken from the prevalent colour of 
the common greyhound. Jesse gives the most likely 
origin of the name. a Originally it was most likely 
grehund, and meant the noble, great, choice, or prize 
hound" (Jesse, ii. 71 ; and Dalziel, i. 23). Probably 
the Celtic denomination for a dog, grech or greg y stands 
in close connection with our word greyhound (Cupples, 
p. 230). White seems to have been the favourite colour, 
and to say one had i lévrier plus blanc que fl ors de lis {Heruis 
de Mes, 107a, 44 ; Bangert, p. 172) would be the greatest 
tribute to the beauty of one's hound. Co si sunt deus 
leveres nurit en ma meisun, curne cisne sunt blauns (Horn, 

613 f.). 

When Froissart went home from Scotland he is de- 
picted as riding a grey horse and leading un blanc lévrier, 
perhaps one of the four he took from these isles and pre- 
sented to the Comte de Foix at Orthéz, whose names 
have been preserved to us as Tristan, Hector, Brun, and 
Rolland (La Curne de la Palaye). 

Greyhounds were used, as has already been mentioned, 
for all kind of hunting and every kind of game, in con- 



2i8 APPENDIX 

junction with limers who started the game for them. 
They were let slip as relays to a pack of running or 
scenting hounds, and they were used by themselves for 
coursing game in an open country, or were placed at the 
passes where game was likely to run and were slipped to 
turn the game back to the archer or to chase and pull 
down the wounded deer (see Appendix : Stables). In our 
illustrations we see them in the pictures of stag-, hare-, 
roe- and boar-hunting, to say nothing of badger-hunting, 
for which one would have thought any other dog more 
suitable. 

They seem always to have been held in couples except 
when following their master and he not bent upon the 
chase. The collars to which these couplings were attached 
were often wonderful gems of the goldsmith's and silver- 
smith's art. Such an item appears in the Q. R. Ward- 
robe Ace. for 1400 (Wylie, iv. p. 196) : "2 collars for 
greyhounds (kverer) le tissue white and green with letters 
and silver turrets." Another one of " soy chekerey vert 
et noir avec le tret (? turret) letters and bells of silver 

gin." 

The ancient doggerel in the Book of St. Albans, 
" Heded like a snake, and necked like a drake. Foted 
like a cat. Tayled like a Rat, Syded lyke a Teme. 
Chyned like a Berne " (" Boke of St. Albans," f. iv.), was 
preceded by a very similar one written some time pre- 
viously by Gace de la Buigne. Of these verses G. de 
F. gives, twenty-eight years later, a prose version, which 
our Master of Game has rendered into English. 

HARDEL, hardeyl, to tie couples of hounds together. 
From the French word harder, which has the same mean- 
ing : Harder les chiens, and harde, the rope with which 
they are tied. It is derived from hart, hard, art, a binder 
of willow or other pliable wood used for fastening fagots 
together (Lit. and God.). The primitive way of tying 
hounds together was by passing such a small flexible 
branch through the couplings which bent back on itself, 



APPENDIX 219 

both ends being held. " Les chiens . . . seront enhardez 
par les couples à genoivres ou à autre josne bois tors " (Roy 
Modus, f. xlvii. recto). In France there used to be two 
hardes to each relay and not more than eight hounds in 
every harde (D'Yauville). In England there used to be 
about the same number. The term was still used in 
Blome's time (1686), for he writes in his "Gentleman's 
Recreation " : " The huntsman on foot that hath the 
charge of the coupled hounds, and before that must have 
hardled them, that is, with a slip, for the purpose ready 
secured three or four couple together, that they may not 
break in from him, to run into the cry of the Finders " 
(p. 88). 

Harling was a word used in Devonshire, and as it 
meant tying the hound together by means of a rope 
passed through the rings of the couples, it is undoubtedly 
a corruption of the word hardeling. " Until compara- 
tively recent times the hounds in Devonshire were taken 
to the meet and held in this manner until the time came 
to lay the pack on " (Collyns). 

Hardel, the technical O. E. term for binding together 
the four legs of the roebuck, the head having been placed 
between the two forelegs, in order to carry him whole 
into the kitchen. 

HARE. Pliny records the fable that hares "are of 
many and various sexes." Topsell remarks that " the 
Hebrews call the hare < arnebet," > in the feminine gender," 
which word gave occasion to an opinion that all hares 
were females (pp. 264, 266). 

"In the Gwentian code of Welch laws supposed to be 
of the eleventh century, the hare is said not to be capable 
of any legal valuation, being in one month male and in 
another female" (Twici, p. 22). 

Certainly in many of the older writings on hares the 
pronouns "her" and "him" are used indiscriminately 
in the same sentence. Sir Thomas Browne in his treatise 
on vulgar errors asserts from his own observation that 



22o APPENDIX 

the sex of the hare is changeable, and that the buck hare 
will sometimes give birth to young. Up to the end of 
the eighteenth century there was a widespread and firm 
belief in this fable (Brehm, ii. p. 626). Buffon describes 
it as one of the animal's peculiar properties, and from the 
structure of their parts of generation he argues that the 
notion has arisen of hermaphrodite hares, that the males 
sometimes bring forth young, and that some are alternately 
males and females and perform the functions of either 
sex. 

" Master of Game " (copying G. de F.) states that 
the hare carries her young for a period of two months, 
but in reality the period of gestation is only thirty days. 
Harting says that the adult hare will breed twice or 
thrice in the year, but Brehm declares they breed as 
many as four times, and but seldom five times (Encyclop. 
of Sport, vol. ii. p. 504 ; Brehm, vol. ii. p. 626 ; G. de 
F. P . 47). 

G. de F. (p. 43) says of a hare, " Elle oït bien, mais elle 
voit mal." "Master of Game" translates this simply as 
She hath evil sight ; but does not say she hears well. The 
sense of hearing is most highly developed in the hare, 
and every lightly breaking twig or falling leaf will dis- 
turb her. It is said that of old when warreners wished 
to prepare hares for the market they filled their ears with 
wax, so that, not being continually disturbed by noises, 
they did not move about much, and grew sleek and fat 
(Blome, p. 95). G. de F.'s assertion that the hare "has 
evil sight " is also confirmed by Brehm, who, however, 
says that they are endowed with a keen sense of smell, 
whereas G. de F. says elle sent pou. 

Attention has already been called to the Duke of 
York's statement that " the hare hath great fear to run." 
This arose probably from the similarity of the words 
peur and pouvoir in the MSS., for it should read " hath 
great power to run," the principal MSS. which we have 
examined showing pouvoir. Verard in his first edition 
of G. de F. also has the same rendering as the Duke of 




i? m 



APPENDIX 221 

York, to which Lavallée draws attention as being one 
of the many ludicrous mistakes in this edition (G. 
de F., xli.). 

Our text calls the hare the most marvellous beast 
(p. 181), the reasons given being because she " fumeth 
or croteth and rowngeth and beareth tallow and grease." 
By " rowngeth " (Fr. ronger) it was meant that the hare 
chewed the cud, as by the ancients it was generally sup- 
posed that the hare was a ruminant. Although this is 
not the case, and the hare has not a compound stomach, 
nevertheless this belief showed a close observation of 
nature, for when a hare is seated she can bring up parts 
of her food and give it a second mastication. 

The hare and rabbit have little or no fat, but what 
they do possess is called grease. Twici says : // porte 
gresce (pp. I and 21). 

" She has teeth above in the same wise as beneath " 
(p. 181) is another of the peculiarities noticed in our text, 
which shows that the difference in dentition that dis- 
tinguishes the hare from all other rodents had been re- 
marked. Instead of two incisors in the upper jaw, the 
hare has four, having two small rudimentary incisor teeth 
behind the two large front ones, and five or six molars 
in the upper jaw, with two incisors and five molars in the 
lower jaw (Brehm, ii. p. 627 ; Cornish, " Shooting," ii. 

P- 153)- . 

It is difficult to know why the hare was considered a 
" melancholy " beast, and how this curious reputation 
was kept up during the whole of the Middle Ages. 
It was thought that eating the flesh of the hare rendered 
one also subject to melancholy. G. de F. does not 
mention this, and altogether his book is comparatively 
free of such superstitions, but he says the flesh of the 
hare should not be given to the hounds after a day's 
hunting, as it is indigestible : quar elle est fastieuse viande 
et les f et vomir (p. 210). Therefore, when rewarding the 
hounds, they should only have the tongue and the kidneys, 
with some bread soaked in the blood of the hare. 



222 APPENDIX 

In our MS., at the end of the chapter on the nature 
of the hare (p. 22), the Duke of York says that he 
"trows no good hunter would slee them so," alluding to 
pockets, pursenets, and other poaching devices ; and 
although G. de F. gives six ways of taking the hare, he 
does not approve of such methods for the true sportsman, 
but enters an amusing protest : " I would that they who 
take hares thus should have them [the cords] round their 
own necks" (p. 171). Snaring hares was never con- 
sidered legitimate sport. In hare-hunting proper, the 
hounds were taken into the fields to find the hare, as at 
present ; or hare-finders were sent out early in the morn- 
ing, and the tufts of grass or plants where the hare was 
likely to be seated were beaten, and the hounds uncoupled 
only when the hare was started. One of the chief differ- 
ences in the sport between then and now was that often, 
when the hare was once on foot, greyhounds were also 
uncoupled, and our Plate, p. 182, shows greyhounds and 
running-hounds hunting seemingly happily together. It 
must have been rather discouraging for the old-fashioned, 
slow scenting-hound to have the hare he has been dili- 
gently hunting suddenly " bitten " in front of him by 
the swifter greyhound. Trencher-fed packs also existed 
as early as the fourteenth century, and we read in Gace 
de la Buigne that the small farmers would assemble to- 
gether, bringing all told some forty hounds of different 
breeds and sizes, immensely enjoying their sport, and 
accounting for many hares. 

HARNESS means in our text " paraphernalia where- 
with animals can be caught or taken." It is frequently 
used in this sense by Gaston — Hayes et autres Harnoys 
(p. 126). In Julien's note to this same sentence occur- 
ring in Le bon Variety he says, autres harnois, autres engins, 
instruments, procèdes. 

HARRIER, spelt in early documents with many varia- 
tions — eirere, heyreres, heyrer, hayrers. A hound which 



APPENDIX 223 

is described in modern dictionaries as " resembling a fox- 
hound but smaller, used for hare-hunting" (Murray). 
This explanation would not have been a correct one for 
our harriers of the fourteenth century, for as far as we 
can gather they were used to hunt all kinds of game and 
by no means only the hare. They were evidently a 
smaller kind of running hound, for as our MS. says, there 
are some small and some large running hounds, " and the 
small are called Kenettis (or small dogs — see Kenet), and 
these hounds run well to all manner of game and they 
that serve for all game men call them heirers" (p. in). 
And in chapter 36 we see that heyrers were used to hunt 
up the deer in the forest, the herthounds and greyhounds 
meanwhile being held in leash till a warrantable deer was 
on foot, or till " the heyrer have well run and well made 
the rascal void " (made the smaller deer clear out of that 
part of the forest) (p. 191). Then the herthounds were 
to be uncoupled where the most likely "ligging is for an 
hert, and seek." The herthounds then put up the wary 
old stag and hunted him till he came to the tryst where 
the King would be with his long bow or cross-bow, or 
till the hert was pulled down by them or the greyhounds 
which had been slipped at him. 

In the chapter on hare-hunting in our MS. the word 
harrier does not occur ; only hounds, greyhounds, and 
raches are mentioned. So when Henry IV. paid for " La 
garde de nos chiens appelez hayrers " (Privy Seal, 20 Aug. 
9th Henry, 1408, No. 5874), or Henry V. for the " Cus- 
todlam Canum nostrum vocatorum hayreres " (Rot. Pat. 1 
Henry V. 1413), it was not because they were especially 
addicted to hare-hunting, but because they kept these 
useful hounds to " harry " game. 

In 1407 we find one Hugh Malgrave u servient! vena- 
tor? vocat 9 hayters />' c'vo (cervo), which we may accept 
as another proof that their office was to hunt the stag. 
The Duke of York also repeatedly says that " heirers " 
run at all game (see pp. in, 196, 197). In 1423 Hugh 
Malgrave still held the "office of the hayrers" by grant 



224 APPENDIX 

from Henry IV. In the curious legal Latin of the 
thirteenth century, we find the word canes heirettes, and 
heyrettor (Wardrobe Accounts, 34 Ed. I.). 

There are a great number of early records which show 
us that these hounds were used then for hunting red and 
fallow deer, sometimes in conjunction with greyhounds 
and sometimes without their aid. 

Harriers were sometimes taken with buckhounds on 
hunting expeditions as well as with greyhounds. In 
some of the documents harriers are simply alluded to as 
canes currentes. As they were not a distinct breed, but 
were included under the designation " raches," or running 
hounds, a separate chapter is not given to them in our 
text, and neither Twici, nor the Dame of St. Albans 
mentions these hounds. Gradually we find the spelling, 
although presenting still countless variations, bringing the 
a more constantly than the e; the "heirers" become 
hayrers, hareres, hariers, and after the sixteenth century 
harriers. It is also probable that the word was originally 
derived from the Anglo-Saxon Hergian, herian, to harry, 
to disturb, to worry ; O. Fr. harrier, herrier, herier, to 
harry ; F. hare and harer, to set a dog on to attack. 
The harrier, in fact, was a dog to " hare " the game. 
Although now obsolete, we find this word used late in 
the seventeenth century. 

" Let the hounds kill the fox themselves and worry and 
hare him as much as they please " (Cox, " Gent. Rec," 
p. no). It is also in the sixteenth century that one 
comes across the first allusions to their use in hunting 
the hare. 

HART. It is not necessary to dwell here at length 
upon the great esteem in which the hart was held by all 
devotees to sport in Europe during the Middle Ages. It 
was royal game, and belonged to the Prince or ruler of 
the country, and the chase was their prerogative. Few 
unconnected with the court were ever able to enjoy the 
chase of the stag unless in attendance on or by special 



APPENDIX 225 

licence granted by the sovereign. Those who had ex- 
tensive property of their own and had permission to erect 
a fence could, of course, keep deer on it, but this did not 
enable them to enjoy the sport of real wild deer hunting, 
or La chasse Royale as the French called it. 

The stag was one of the five beasts of venery, and 
was, according to the ancient French regulations, a beast 
of the sweet foot, although in the list of beasts of sweet 
and stinking foot given in the " Boke of St. Albans " the 
hart is included in neither category [see Appendix : 
Fewte). 

One of the first essentials for a huntsman in the Middle 
Ages was to learn to know the different signs of a stag 
(according to German venery there were seventy-two 
signs), so as to be able to "judge well." These signs 
were those of the slot, the gait, the fraying-post, the rack 
or entry (i.e. the place where the stag entered covert), 
and the fumes. By recognising differences in these signs 
made by a young stag, a hind, and a warrantable stag, he 
was enabled to find out where the latter was harbouring, 
and by the slot and gait he could recognise when the 
chased stag was approaching his end. 

There were many things that the huntsman of old 
had to learn regarding the stag before he could be con- 
sidered as more than an apprentice — for instance, how to 
speak of a hart in terms of venery. The terms used 
were considered of the greatest importance, even to the 
manner in which the colour of the stag was spoken of, 
brown, yellow, or dun being the only permissible terms 
to distinguish the shade of colour. Special terms are 
given for every kind of head, or antlers, a stag might bear. 

The huntsman spoke of the stag's blenches and ruses 
when alluding to the tricks of a deer when trying to rid 
himself of the hounds, of his doubling and rusing to and fro 
upon himself when he retraced his steps, of his beating up 
the river when he swam up-stream, and of foiling down, 
when he went down-stream, or of going to soil when he 
stood in water. When the deer lay down he was quat, 

P 



2 26 APPENDIX 

when he stood still in covert he was stalling. When he 
was tired he "cast his chaule" i.e. drooped his head, a 
well-known sign when the deer is done, as was his closed 
mouth when dead beat. 

The hart was meved or moved, when he was started 
from his resting-place ; he was quested or hunted for, and 
sued or chased ; his resting-place was called his ligging or 
lair y his scent of line of flight, his fues. He was spoken 
of as soule or soile (F. seule) if unaccompanied by other 
deer, and in "herd with rascal and folly" if keeping com- 
pany with lesser deer. 

Besides many other quaint terms of venery the follow- 
ing were the designations given to the hart according to 
his age by : — 

Twici, " Boke of St. Blome ; Cox's 

" Master of Game." Albans," Man wood, " Gentleman's 

Turbervile. Recreations." 

1st yr. A calf. A calf. A hinde-calf or calf. 

2nd ,, A bullock. A brocket. A knobler or knobber. 

3rd ,, A brocket. A spayer, spayard, or A brocket or brocke. 

spayd. 

4th ,, A staggart. A staggart or stag. A staggard. 

5th „ A hart of ten. A hart. A hart. 

Until he was a hart of ten our text tells us he was not 
considered a chaseable or warrantable deer. By the 
above one will see that the " Master of Game " is excep- 
tional in calling a deer of the second year a bullock, 
brocket being the usual term. 

In old French literature we occasionally find the word 
broches used for the tines of a deer's antlers ; brochet 
would be the diminutive, i.e. a small tine, and hence 
perhaps brocket, a young stag bearing small tines. Any 
stag of ten or over if hunted by the king became a Hart 
Royal, and if hunted and not taken, but driven out of 
the forest, a proclamation was made to warn every one 
that no person should chase or kill the said hart, and he 
was then a " Hart Royal proclaimed " (Man., p. 180). 

All stags not chaseable, such as young or lean stags 
and hinds, were classed as folly or rascal. 



APPENDIX 227 

A young stag accompanying an oid one was called his 
squire (F. escuyer). 

Hinds also were called by different names from the 
first to the third year, but the " Master of Game " does 
not give these, nor do any of the earliest works. Man- 
wood, Blome, and Cox give the following terms : first 
year, a calf ; second year, a Hearse or brocket's sister ; 
third year and ever after, a hind. A somewhat similar 
term was employed in France to denote a young stag 
between six months and a year old. Haire, also spelt her 
(G. de Champgrand Baudrillard), and Harpaille y was the 
term for a herd of young stags and hinds. 

Hart's Age. — The fable that a stag can live a hundred 
years which the " Master of Game " repeats (p. 34) after 
G. de F. was not of the latter's invention, but one that 
had been current for many centuries before their day. 

HORNS. — When the " Master of Game " was written 
hunting horns were the curved primitive shape of those 
made from the horns of animals, and most of them pro- 
bably were still made of the horns of cattle, while those 
used by the richer gentry and nobles were fashioned 
from some rarer animals' trophy, such as the ibex, or 
carved of ivory, and some were made of precious metal. 
But whether of simple horn, ivory, or of wood, they 
were decorated with gold or silver ferrules, rings, and 
mouthpieces, and some being provided with a stopper, 
could be converted into drinking horns. Unfortunately 
the " Master of Game " does not tell us the material of 
which horns should be made. He simply says how they 
should " be dryve." They were to be two spans long 
(1 ft. 6 in.), slightly curved so that both ends were 
raised from three to four fingers' breadth above the 
centre ; the larger end or the bell was to be as wide as 
possible, and the mouthpiece not too small. It was 
waxed thickly or thinly, whichever the huntsman thought 
produced the best sound. What effect the wax had can 
scarcely be judged, but it was evidently considered an 



228 APPENDIX 

improvement, as it is stated that for foresters " mené 
homes and unwexid " are good enough for them. Be- 
sides the hunter's horn five different kinds of horns are 
mentioned in our MS. — the bugle, great abbots, ruets, 
small foresters, and mean horns. The bugle was not 
the trumpet we now understand by that name, but a 
simple curved horn, most probably deriving its name 
from the bugle, as the wild ox was called ; although 
Dryden says from the German word hugely a curve or 
bend. Ruets may have been the name for a much curved 
or almost circular horn, from French rouette, small wheel. 
The mean horns were probably the medium-sized, shrill- 
sounding horns made out of wood or bark, known as 
minuehy menuiaux y moienel y meniùer y &c. (Perc. 27,166 
and 27,140). 

A good length for a horn is mentioned as being " une 
paume et demie" (Perceval, 31,750). It is uncertain 
whether this length and that given by the " Master of 
Game " were measured round the inside of the bend or 
in a straight line between the two extremities. The 
famous Borstall horn, also known as Nigel's horn, is 

2 feet 4 inches long on the convex and 23 inches on the 
concave bend ; the inside measure of the bell end being 

3 inches in diameter. The size of another noted horn, 
i.e. the Pusey horn, is 2 feet \ inch long, the circum- 
ference at the widest end being 12 inches. The general 
length of these horns seems to have been somewhere 
between 18 inches and 2 feet. The above-mentioned 
specimens were horns of tenure, the first being a hunt- 
ing-, the second a drinking-horn. The Borstall horn 
is said to have been given by Edward the Confessor to 
one Nigel, in reward for his killing an immense wild 
boar, and by this horn he and his successors for genera- 
tions held lands of the crown. 

The curved horn remained in fashion in England 
till about the latter half of the seventeenth century, 
then a straight one came into use about 1 ft. 6 in. to 
2 ft. long, such as we see depicted in Blome. Of this 



APPENDIX 229 

shape, but a few inches shorter, is the hunting-horn still 
in use in England. The French hunting-horn was used 
in England in the eighteenth century, but did not remain 
long in fashion. 

HUNTING CRIES. We can see that the hunting 
cries and the language used in speaking to the hounds 
when hunting in the days of the "Master of Game" 
were still those brought into Britain by the Normans, 
and in most instances the words can actually still be 
recognised as French. There are only a few ex- 
amples given by him as to the manner a huntsman 
should speak to his hounds in the stag-hunting chapters, 
such as : — 

Ho moy, ho moy, hole, hole, hole : To encourage the 
limer when drawing for a stag (p. 166). 

Cy va, cy va, cy va : To call the hounds when any 
signs of the stag were seen (p. 167). 

Le douce mon amy, le douce : " Softly, my friend, softly." 
To the hounds when they were uncoupled near to where 
the stag was supposed to be lying. 

Sto arere, so howe, so howe : " Hark back," if the 
hounds were on a wrong scent. 

Hoo sto, ho sto, mon amy, ho sto : To harriers drawing 
for a stag. 

Oyez, a Beaumont, oyez, assemble à Beaumont : " Hark 
to Beaumont, hark, get to him." To the hound of 
that name who picks up the right line, and to bring 
the other hounds to him. 

It is in the hare-hunting chapter that we have more 
of the " fayre wordis of venery," and here, if the " Master 
of Game " does not slavishly copy Twici, yet he employs 
the same cries, with a slight difference only in ortho- 
graphy. The " Boke of St. Albans " has also most of the 
following : — 

Hoo arere : " Back there." When the hounds come 
too hastily out of the kennel. 

So moun amy atreyt : Until they come into the field ; 



2 3 o APPENDIX 

these two are not given by Twici, but the following 
are identical in both books : — 

Hors de couple, avaunt sy avaunt, and thrice so howe : 
When the hounds are uncoupled. 

Sa sa cy avaunt, cy sa avaient, sa cy avaunt (avaunt, 
sire, avaunt, in Twici) : Forward, sir, forward. 

Here how, amy, how amy, and Swef, mon amy, swef : 
" Gently, my friend, gently " {swef, from Latin swavis), 
when the hounds draw too fast from the hunts- 
man. 

Oyez, à Beaumont (in Twici : Oyez, a Beaumont le 
vaillaunt que il quide trover le coward od la courte cowe) : 
" Hark to Beaumont the valiant, who thinks to find 
the coward with the short tail." 

La douce, la il ad este sohowe : " Softly, there — here 
he has been," if the place where the hare has pastured 
is seen. 

Illoeques, illoeques : " Here, here," if the hounds hunt 
well on the line (see Appendix : Illoeques). 

Ha sy toutz, cy est il venuz arere, so howe. Sa cy a este 
so howe. Sa cy avaunt : " Here, he has gone back. 
Here he has been. Forward there." When the hare 
has doubled. 

La douce amy, il est venuz illoeques, sohowe : " Softly, 
friend, he is here." When the hounds hunt well in 
fields or arable land. 

La douce, amy, la est il venuz [pur lue segere sohow) : 
"Softly, friend, here he has come to seat himself" 
(Mid. Eng., sege — a seat. Latin, sedere). 

La douce, amy, la il est venuz {pur meyndir) : " Here 
he has been to feed " (meyndir, from Latin manducare, 
mander e). 

The bracketed part of the last two cries are given in 
the MS. of Twety and Gyff., and the following are 
only in the "Master of Game " : — 

Le valliant oyez, oyez who bo bowe, and then, Avaunt, 
assemble, assemble, war war, a ha war, for running riot. 
How assamy assamy so arere so howe bloues acoupler. 



APPENDIX 231 

On seeing the pricking or footing of the hare : Le 
voye y le voye (" The view, the view "). 

In France, Tallyho^ or a very similar sounding word, 
was employed in the early days when the huntsman 
was sure that the right stag had gone away, whether he 
only knew it by his slot, &c, or whether he had viewed 
him. 

It was also a call to bring up the hounds when the stag 
had gone away, and at the end of the curee y when the 
huntsman held part of the entrails of the deer on a large 
wooden fork, and the hounds bayed it (which was called 
the firhujy the huntsman called out Tally ho. 

We only find Tallyho in comparatively recent Eng- 
lish hunting literature and songs — never, so far as I am 
aware, before the late seventeenth century, and it does 
not occur at all constantly until the eighteenth century. 
Neither Turbervile nor Blome nor Cox, in their books on 
the various chases, mention such a word, though we find 
instruction to the huntsman to say "Hark to him," "Hark 
forward," "Hark back," and "To him, to him"; besides 
the inevitable "So how sohow." Neither in Twici, 
" Master of Game," " Boke of St. Albans," Chaucer, or 
Shakespeare can we find an invigorating Tallyho. It 
would almost appear as if it were a seventeenth century 
importation from across the Channel, which is quite 
possible, for Henry IV. of France sent in that century 
three of his best huntsmen, Desprez, de Beaumont, and 
de Saint-Ravy, to the Court of King James I. to teach 
the royal huntsmen how to hunt the stag in the French 
way, English Court hunting having degenerated into 
coursing of stags within the park palings. 

Taïaut in France was used solely in the chase of red, 
fallow, or roe deer. 

HUNTING MUSIC. In the " Master of Game," 
as in all the earliest hunting literature, much importance 
is placed on the huntsman's sounding his horn in the 
proper manner in order, as Twici says, that " Each man 



2 3 2 APPENDIX 

who is around you, who understands Hunting, can know 
in which point you are in your sport by your blowing." 
The author of "Master of Game " (p. 170) says he will 
give us "a chapter which is all of blowing," but he 
omitted to fulfil this promise, so that we have only such 
information as we can gather in his chapters on stag 
and hare-hunting. The differences in the signals were 
occasioned by the length of the sound or note, and the 
intervals between each. Twici expresses these notes in 
syllables, such as trout, trout, trourourout. The first of 
these would be single notes, with an interval between 
them, blown probably with a separate breath or wind for 
each ; the latter would be three notes blown without 
interval and with a single breath or wind. The principal 
sounds on the hunting horn were named as follows : — 

A Moot or Mote, a single note, which might be 
sounded long or short. 

A Recheat. To recheat, Twici says, " blow in this 
manner, tr our our our out, tr our our our out, tr our our our out" 
therefore a four-syllabled sound succeeded by an interval, 
blown three times. In the " Master of Game " we find 
the recheat preceded or followed by a moot, the most 
constantly recurring melody. When the limer has 
moved the stag, and the huntsman sees him go away, he 
was to blow a moot and recheat. If the stag is moved 
but not viewed, and the huntsman knows only by the slot 
that it is his stag that has gone away, he is to recheat 
without the moot, for that was only to be blown when 
the stag was seen. When the hounds are at fault and 
any one finds the slot of the deer, he should recheat " in 
the rightes and blow a long moot for the lymerer," or if 
he thinks he sees the hunted stag, he should blow a moot 
and recheat, and after that blow two moots for the 
hounds. 

The Forlonge. A signal that the stag had got away 
far ahead of the hounds or that these had distanced some 
or all of the huntsmen [see Appendix : Forlonge). 

The Perfect or Parfit. Twici says it began by " a 






APPENDIX 233 

moot and then trourourout, trout, trout, trourourout, 
trourourout, trourourout, trout, trout, tr our our our out" " and 
then to commence by another moot again, and so you 
ought to blow three times. And to commence by a 
moot and to finish by a moot." This was only blown 
when the hounds were hunting the right line (see Ap- 
pendix : Parfet). 

The Prise. Twici says, blow four moots for the tak- 
ing of the deer. According to the " Master of Game," 
"the prise or coupling up" was to be blown by the chief 
personage of the hunt only, after the quarry. It was 
only blown when the deer had been slain by strength, 
or hunted, and not when shot or coursed. He was to 
blow four moots, wait a short interval (half an Ave 
Maria), and blow another four notes a little longer than 
the first four. 

The Menée. Twici says the Menée should only be 
blown for the hart, the boar, the wolf, and the male 
wolf, but he does not give us any analysis of this melody. 
In the " Master of Game " we are told that the Menée 
was blown at the hall-door on the return of the hunts- 
men. The Master first blew four moots alone, then at 
the end of the four moots the others joined him in blow- 
ing, and they all continued keeping time together (see 
Appendix : Menée). 

The Mort or Death was another sound of the horn, 
but we have no description of the notes. Perhaps it is 
synonymous with the Prise. 

The Stroke must have been another grouping of short 
and long notes, but of this we have no record. 

Hardouin de Fontaines Guerin wrote a poem on the 
chase chiefly concerning the different manners of blowing 
such as obtained in his native country the provinces of 
Anjou and Maine. The poem was illustrated with four- 
teen miniatures showing the notes to be blown on as many 
différent occasions during stag-hunting. 

The notes are written in little squares : D denoting a 
long note ; P| a short note ; HH a note of two long 



2 34 



APPENDIX 



syllables; 55 a note of two short syllables; B3DD a 
note of one short and two long syllables ; and « » bm a 
note of one short, two long, and two short syllables. Of 
these six notes combinations were made for all the signals 
to be blown. 

ILLOEQUES, "here in this place," from the L. ilk 
loco. Sometimes it is spelt illecques, iluec y Mosques, Sec. It 




From Hardouin de Fontaines Guerin's Work, 
written in i394 

is constantly met with in Anglo-Norman, and the Pro- 
vence dialects (Botman, pp. 90, 242 ; T. M., pp. 31, 
93, 142 ; Roy Modus, lxix. ; and in the will of the 
Duke of York, Nichols). It has been suggested that it 
is the origin of the familiar yolcks. In the " Boke of St. 
Albans " in the verses on hare-hunting; it also occurs. 



JOPEYE, synonymous with jupper, which, according 
to Cotgrave, is an old word signifying " to whoot, showt, 
crie out alowd." The French word juper, jupper y also 
spelt joppeir, had the same meaning, and we find it em- 



APPENDIX 235 

ployed in the " Chace dou cerf" for a halloa in hunting 
in a similar way to jopeye in our text : 

" Et puis juppe ou come i. lone mot 
Chaucims en a joie qui Vot" 

In the sense it is used in our " Master of Game " (p. 
185) it means to halloa to the hounds, to encourage them 
with the voice. 

KENETTES, small hounds. Kenet is a diminutive 
form of the Norman-French kenet y and the O. F. chen y 
cieneteSy chenet, a dog : i veneour a ii cienetes, Ne mie grans 
mais petitetes. Et plus blans que n est flors d* e spine (Percival, 
22,895). Derived from the Latin canis [see Appendix : 
Harriers). 

LIGGING, a bed, a resting-place, a lair. From O. 
Eng. licgan, licgean, Goth. /igan y lie, lie down. The 
ligging of the hart was what we now call his lair, spelt 
also layer. In our MS. it is used for the dwelling of a 
wild cat (p. 71). 

This old expression is not entirely obsolete, but can 
be heard still among the country people of the northern 
counties of England. 

LIMER, lymer ; the name given to a scenting-hound 
which was held in a liam or leash whilst tracking the 
game. Limers never were any distinct breed of hounds, 
but, of course, some breeds produced better limers than 
others (De Noirmont, vol. ii. p. 350). 

A dog used as a limer had to be keen on the scent, 
staunch on the line, not too fast, and was taught to run 
mute, for if the exact whereabouts of any game had to be 
discovered, it would have been impossible, if the hound 
gave tongue or challenged while on the scent. A likely 
hound was chosen from the kennel at an early age, 
G. de F. says at a year old (p. 157), and from that time 
accompanied his master, sleeping in his room, and being 



2 3 6 APPENDIX 

taught to obey him. He was continually taken out by 
his master with collar and liam and encouraged to follow 
the scent of hinds and of staçs and other beasts, and 
punished should he venture to acknowledge the scent of 
any animal he was not being entered to, or should he 
open on finding or following the line. 

In England as well as on the Continent the huntsman 
went out in the early morning to track the game to be 
hunted to its lair, or den, before the pack and huntsmen 
came into the field. Deer, wild boar, bear and wolves 
were thus harboured by means of a limer. Twici makes 
the apprentice huntsman ask : " Now I wish to know 
how many of the beasts are moved by the lymer, and how 
many of the beasts are found by braches ? — Sir, all those 
which are chased are moved by a lymer, and all those 
which are hunted up (enquillez) are found by the braches " 
(Twici, p. 12 ; see Appendix : Acquillez). 

Limers were not only employed when a warrantable 
stag was to be hunted by hounds, but a huntsman going 
out with his bow or cross-bow would have his brachet on 
a liam and let him hunt up the quarry he wished to shoot 
{see Appendix : Bercelet). Also, the day before one of 
the large battues for big game, the limers would be taken 
out to ascertain what game there was in the district to 
be driven. 

A liam, lyome, or fyame, was a rope made of silk or 
leather by which hounds were led, from O. F. Uamcn, 
a strap or line, Latin ligaînen. This strap was fastened 
to the collar by a swivel, and both collar and liams were 
often very gorgeous. We read of " A lyame of white 
silk with collar of white vellat embrawdered with perles, 
the swivell of silver." " Dog collors of crymson vellat 
with vi lyhams of white leather." " A Heme of grene 
and white silke." " Three lyames and colors with tirrett 
of silver and quilt" (Madden, "Expenses of Princess 
Mary "). 

A hound was said to carry his liam well when he just 
kept it at proper tension, not straining it, for that would 



APPENDIX 237 

show that he was of too eager temperament, and likely 
to overshoot the line ; if he trailed his liam on the ground, 
it showed that he was slack or unwilling (D'Yauville). 

As soon as the stag was " moved " the limer's work 
was over, but only for the time being ; his master led 
him away, the other hounds were uncoupled, and the 
harbourer, mounting his horse and keeping his limer 
with him, rode as close to the chase as he could, skirting 
below the wind and being careful not to cross the line, 
but managing to be at hand in case the stag should run 
in company or give the hounds the change. In this 
case the huntsman had to check the hounds, and 
wait for the harbourer and limer to come up and un- 
ravel the change, and put the pack on the right scent 
once more. 

The method of starting the stag with a limer was not 
done away with in France until the eighteenth century, 
although in Normandy a change had been made pre- 
viously, and probably in England also. For our author 
says that some sportsmen even in his time, when im- 
patient, would uncouple a few of the hounds in the 
covert, before the stag had been properly started by the 
limer, which practice he, however, was not in favour of 
except under the conditions he mentions. 

This uncoupling of a few older hounds in covert to 
start the deer, coupling them again as soon as the deer 
was on foot, was later called tufting, and is still customary 
in Devon and Somerset. 

The limer was not rewarded with the other hounds ; 
he received his reward from the hands of his master 
before or after the other hounds, and after he had bayed 
the head of the stag. 

When not quoting or translating the old text the 
more modern spelling of //mer has been used. 

MADNESS. Old Eng. and Mid. Eng. Woodness, 
wodnesse, and wodnyss ; mad, wode. The seven different 
sorts of madnesses spoken of by the " Master of Game " 



238 APPENDIX 

are also mentioned in nearly all subsequent works on old 
hunting dealing with " sicknesses of hounds." They 
are the hot burning madness, running madness, dumb 
madness, lank madness, rheumatic madness or slavering 
madness, falling madness, sleeping madness. 

These are mentioned in Roy Modus, and the cure for 
rabies, of taking the afflicted dog to the sea and letting 
nine waves wash over him, as well as the cock cure 
mentioned in our English MS., were both taken by 
Gaston from Roy Modus, or both derived them from 
some common source (Roy Modus, fol. xlv. r). 

The water cure is mentioned also by Albertus Magnus 
(Alb. Mag., 215, a 27). 

It seems likely to have been to try the efficacy of this 
cure that King Edward I. sent some of his hounds to 
Dover to bathe in the sea, the following account for 
which is entered in his Wardrobe Accounts : 

"To John le Berner, going to Dover to bathe six 
braches by the King's order and for staying there for 
21 days for his expense 3. 6d " (6 Edward I. Quoted 
from MS. Philipps, 8676). 

The means of recognising rabies by a cock is also 
mentioned in the recipe of the eleventh century given 
by Avicenna (957-1037), and it appears again in Vin- 
centius Bellovacensis and is also to be found in Alexander 
Neckham. Although the manner of using the cock for 
this purpose varies, we see by the fact of its being men- 
tioned in different works preceding our MS. that the 
cock enjoyed some legendary renown for at least a couple 
of centuries before Gaston (Werth, p. 55). 

Nowadays only two varieties of rabies are recognised : 
furious and dumb rabies. The numerous divisions of the 
old authors were based on different stages of the disease 
and slight variations in the symptoms. 

When a dog is attacked with rabies its owner often 
supposes that the dog has a bone in its throat, so that a 
report of this condition is regarded by veterinary surgeons 
with suspicion. This corresponds with the description 



APPENDIX 239 

in our text of dogs, with their mouths " somewhat gaping, 
as if they were enosed in their throat." 

MASTIFF, from F. metif, O. F. mestif, M. E. mastyf, 

mestiv, mixed breed, a mongrel dog (Cent. Diet., Murray). 
Some etymologists have suggested that the word mastiff 
was derived from masethieves, as these dogs protected their 
master's houses and cattle from thieves (Manwood, p. 
113). Others again give mastinus, i.e. maison tenant, 
house-dog, as the origin, but the first derivation given of 
mestif, mongrel, is the one now generally recognised. 

Although it will be quite evident to any one compar- 
ing the mastiff depicted in our Plate, p. 122, with any 
picture of the British mastiff that the two are very diffe- 
rent types, we must not therefore conclude that the artist 
was at fault, but that the French matin, which is what our 
MS. describes and depicts, was by no means identical 
with our present English breed of mastiffs, nor even with 
the old British mastiff or bandog. The French matins 
were generally big, hardy dogs, somewhat light in the 
body, with long heads, pointed muzzles, flattened fore- 
head, and semi-pendant ears ; some were rough and others 
smooth coated. 

Matins were often used for tackling the wild boar 
when run by other hounds, so as to save the more valu- 
able ones when the boar turned to bay. 

In this chase, as well as when they were used to pro- 
tect their master's flocks against wolves, huge iron spiked 
collars were fastened round the dog's neck. These 
spiked collars were very formidable affairs ; one of very 
ancient make which I have measures inside nearly eight 
inches in diameter, and the forty-eight spikes are an inch 
long, the whole weighing without the padlock that 
fastened it together about two pounds. 

In England the name Mastiff was not in general use 
till a much later date, even as late as the end of the 
eighteenth century, Osbaldiston in his Dictionary ignor- 
ing the term mastiff, and using, like a true Saxon, the 



2 4 o APPENDIX 

old term bandog (Wynn, p. 72). In the seventeenth and 
eighteenth centuries the terms were generally synony- 
mous, and it seems quite possible that the mastiff of the 
ancient forest laws was not our bandog, but denoted, as 
in France, any large house-dog capable of defending his 
master and his master's goods, watching his cattle, and, 
as frequently necessary, powerful enough to attack the 
depredatory wolf or the wild boar. These would in all 
likelihood be a very mixed breed, and thoroughly justify 
the name m est if or mongrel. 

Cotgrave in his French-English Dictionary gives the 
following : — 

" Mastin, a mastiue or bandog ; a great country curre; 
also a rude, fllthie, currish or cruell fellow." 

We find the word matin in France used as a term of 
opprobrium, or a name of contempt for any ugly or 
distorted body or a coarse person : " Ces un matin, un 
vilain mâtiné Many interesting facts about the mastiff 
have been collected by Jesse in his " History of the 
British Dog," but he also makes the mistake of consider- 
ing that the " Master of Game " and Turbervile give us 
the description of the dogs then existing in England, 
whereas these descriptions really relate only to French 
breeds, although the characteristics may in many cases 
have tallied sufficiently ; but in others a dire confusion 
has resulted from blindly copying from one another. 

MENÉE, from Latin minare, something which is 
led, a following. This word frequently occurs in the 
mediaeval romances, and usually denoted pursuit, either 
in battle or in the hunting field (Borman, p. 37). 
There are various meanings attached to menée : — 
1. The line of flight the stag or other game has taken, 
and Chacier la menée seems to have meant hunting with 
horn and hound by scent on the line of flight, in con- 
tradiction to the chase with the bow or crossbow, which 
was called herser {Le Roman des Loherains, 106, c. 30). In 
G. de F. (p. 157) it is used in the same sense. The 



APPENDIX 241 



meaning in which Gaston de Foix uses the word menée 
is explained by him : Et puis se metre après, et chevauchier 
menée : c'est à dire par ou les chiens et le cerf vont (G. de 
F., pp. 43, 44, 171, 179). See also Chace clou Cerf and 
Hard, de Font. Guer. Edit. Pichon). 

2. The challenge of the hound when on the line. 
Page 171, we read that a hunter should know whether 
the hounds have retrieved their stag by the doubling of 
their menée, i.e. the hounds would make more noise as 
soon as they found the scent or line of flight of the stag 
they were chasing. Menée evidently meant the sound 
made by the hound when actually following the scent, 
not when baying the game. Later the sense seems to 
have been widened, and a musical hound was said to have 
la menée belle (Salnove, p. 246). 

3. A note sounded on a horn {see Appendix : Hunting 
Music). It was the signal that the deer was in full 
flight. It appears to be used in Twici to signify the 
horn-signal blown when the hounds are on the scent of 
hart, boar or wolf, to press the hounds onwards (Twici, 
p. 23). This author says one cannot blow the menée 
for the hare, because it is at one time female and another 
male, and to this Dryden in his notes remarks that 
Twici is perfectly right in saying a man ought not to 
blow the menée for a hare ; for as every one knows, it 
is but a rare occurrence for a hare to go straight on end 
like a fox, for they commonly double and run rings, in 
which case if the hounds were pressed, they would over- 
run the scent and probably lose the hare. But he does 
not explain why Twici says if it were always male the 
menée could be blown at it as at other beasts, such as 
the hart, the boar, and the wolf. Is. it that a male hare 
will occasionally run a long, straight course of several 
miles, but that the female runs smaller rings and more 
constantly retraces her steps, and therefore the menée 
could never be blown at her ? 

4. Menée was also used in the sense of a signal on a 
horn. 



2 4 2 APPENDIX 

The " Master of Game " says the menées should be 
sounded on the return of the huntsman at the hall or 
cellar door (p. 179). There was a curious old custom 
which occasioned the blowing of the horn in West- 
minster Abbey. Two menées were blown at the high 
altar of the Abbey on the delivery there of eight 
fallow deer which Henry III. had by charter granted 
as a yearly gift to the Abbot of Westminster and his 
successors. 

METYNGE, here evidently means meating or feed- 
ing. As the " Master of Game " says : " or pasturing " 
as if the two words were synonymous, as metinge also was 
Mid. Eng. for measure, it might have been a deer of " high 
measure and pasturing." But anyhow the two were 
practically identical, for as Twici says : " Harts which 
are of good pasture. For the head grows according to 
the pasture 5 good or otherwise." See below : Meute. 

MEUTE had several meanings in Old French venery. 

1. The "Master of Game" translated G. de F.'s 
"grant cerf" as a hart of high feeding or pasture. But 
he omitted to render the following passage : " Et s'il est de 
bonne meute, allons le laisser courre" The " bonne meute " 
is not translated by " high meating." It was an expres- 
sion in use to indicate whether the stag was in good 
company or not. If a warrantable stag was accom- 
panied by one or two large stags he was termed " Un 
cerf de bonne mute" (or meute), but if hinds and young 
stags (rascal) were with him he was designated as a " cerf 
de mauvaise mute." In Roy Modus we read : " La 
première est de savoir 5'// est de bonne mute." 

Perhaps meute when used in this sense was derived 
from the old Norman word moeta, màeta, from mot, meet, 
come together. There was also an Old Eng. word metta 
or gemetta, companion. 

2. Meute was also used in another sense which is 
translated by the " Master of Game " as haunts, probably 



APPENDIX 243 

the place the deer usually moves in. G. says : " Il prendra 
congé de sa meute" and the " Master of Game " has : " he 
leaves his haunts." If a deer was harboured in a good 
country for hunting he was also called " En belle meute " 
(D'Yauville, voc. Meute). 

It was in this sense that the " Sénéschal de Nor- 
mandye " answers the question of his royal mistress about 
the stag he himself had harboured that morning ; he tells 
her the stag was En belle meute et pays fort. 

3. Meute, mute, a number of hounds, now called a 
pack or kennel of hounds or a cry of hounds. 

MEW, Mue, to shed, cast, or change. "The hart 
mews his horns," the deer casts his head, or sheds his 
antlers. From the French muer, and the Latin mutare, 
to change, of hawks to moult. 

MOVE, Meu, Meue, mewe, meeve, old forms of 
move. To start a hart signified to unharbour him, to 
start him from his lair. 

G. de F. says : allons le laisser courre ; but the word 
meu or meve was also used in Old French in the same 
way as in English. 

Twici says : Ore vodroi ioe savoir quantez des betes sunt 
meuz de lymer, e quanz des bestes sunt trouez des bradiez. 
. . . Sire, touz ceaus qe sunt enchaces ; sunt meuz de lymer. 
E tous ceaus enquillez sunt trovez de brachez. (Now I 
would wish to know how many beasts are moved by a 
lymer and how many beasts are found by the braches. 
— Sir, all those which are chased are moved by a 
lymer. And all those which are hunted up are found by 
braches.) (Line 18 ; Tristan., i. 4337 ; Partonopeus de 
Blois, 607.) 

MUSE, Meuse. An opening in a fence through 
which a hare or other animal is accustomed to pass. 
An old proverb says : " 'Tis as hard to find a hare 
without a muse, as a woman without scuse." 



2 4 4 APPENDIX 

" A hare will pass by the same muses until her death 
or escape " (Blome, p. 92). 

NUMBLES. M. E. nombles, noumbles ; O. F. nombles. 
The parts of a deer between the thighs, that is to say, 
the liver and kidneys and entrails. Part, and sometimes 
the whole of the numbles were considered the right of 
the huntsman ; sometimes the huntsman only got the 
kidneys, and the rest was put aside with the tit-bits re- 
served for the King or chief personage (Turb., pp. 128- 
129). Numbles by loss of the initial letter became 
umbles (Harrison, vol. i. p. 309), and was sometimes 
written numbles, whence came " humble pie," now only 
associated with the word humble. Humble pie was a pie 
made of the umbles or numbles of the deer, and formerly 
at hunting feasts was set before the huntsman and his 
followers. 

OTTER. The Duke of York does not tell us any- 
thing of the chase of the Otter, but merely refers one at 
the end of the chapter on "The Nature of the Otter" 
to Milbourne, the King's Otter-hunter, for more informa- 
tion and says, " as of all other vermin I speak not " 
(P- 73)* The Otter was evidently beneath his notice, as 
being neither regarded as a beast of venery nor of the 
chase (Twety and Gyfford, Brit. Mus. MS. Vesp. 
B. XII.). But the very fact that the King had an Otter- 
hunter shows that it was a beast not altogether despised, 
although probably hunted more for the value of its skin 
and for the protection of the fish than for the sport. 

The Milbourne referred to by the Duke of York can 
scarcely be any other than the William Melbourne we 
find mentioned in Henry IV. 's reign as " Valet of our 
Otter-hounds" (Privy Seal, 674/6456, Feb. 18, 1410). 

PARFET, the perfect. Twici says : Une autre chasce 
il y ad qe homme appelé le par/et. Dunkes covient il qe vous 
corneez en autre maneree. . . . E isse chescun homme qest en 



APPENDIX 245 

tour vous, que s'iet de vénerie puet conustre en quel point vous 
estes en vostre dedut par vostre corneer (line ni). 

From comparing the various places where the word 
parfait is employed in connection with hunting, it may- 
be concluded that to hunt the " Parfet " was when the 
hounds were on the line of the right stag, to sound the 
" Parfet " was to blow the notes that indicated the hounds 
were hunting the right line. Dryden in his notes to 
Twici suggests that the chase of the parfet was " in 
opposition to the chase of the Forloyng," that is, when 
the pack run well together "jostling in close array" 
(Twici, p. 43). But Perfect in the O. F. works seems 
to us to invariably be used, as already said, to indicate that 
the hounds have not taken the change, but are staunch 
to the right scent. Jacques de Brézé says the stag he is 
hunting joins two great stags, but although some of the 
hounds ran silent for awhile, they still continued staunch 
to their line, and here he uses the word "parfait" (Sen. 
de Nor., p. 13). 

Modus also uses it in this sense : Les chiens qui viennent 
chaçant après le parfait (fol. xix. v). And what is most 
conclusive is the sense given to it in our text : " Should 
blow to him again the parfyt so that he were in his rightes 
and ellys nought," i.e. the parfyt should only be blown 
if the hound was on the right line (p. 174). 

PARFYTIERES, the name given in the « Master of 
Game " to the last relay of hounds uncoupled during the 
chase of the stag. First came the " vaunt chase" and 
then the " midel" and then the " parfytieres" They 
may have been so called from being the last hounds to 
be uncoupled, being those that completed or perfected 
the pack — i.e. perfecters, or this relay may have derived 
its name from being composed of some of the staunchest 
hounds from the kennel, those not likely to follow any 
but the right line or the parfyt. It was customary in 
the old days to keep some of the slower and staunchest 
hounds in the last relay, and to cast them only when a 



246 APPENDIX 

stag nearing its end rused and foiled, and sought by 
every means to shake off his persecutors (sec Appendix : 
Relays). G. de F. gives the names of the three relays 
simply as La première bataille, la seconde, and la tierce 

(P 175). 

POMELED ; spotted, from O. F. pomeiè, spotted like 
an apple. The young of the roedeer are born with a 
reddish brown coat with white spots, which the " Master 
of Game " calls pomeled. This term was also frequently 
used in Ang.-N., O. F., and in the dog- Latin of our ancient 
records to describe a flea-bitten or dappled horse. " His 
hakenei that was all pomeli gris " (Strat.). " Pommeli 
liar dus, gris pommelé, Uno equo liar do pomeled (Obs. Ward. 
Ace. 28, Ed. L). G. de F. does not use this word in 
describing the young of the roedeer, but says they are 
born " eschaquettes " (p. 40). 

RACHES ; ratches or racches, a dog that hunts by 
scent. A.-S. raecc, a hound, and O. F. and Ang.-N. 
brache, bracket, bracon, braquet; Ger. bracken. Ang.-Lat., 
brachetus, bracketus. 

Raches were scenting hounds hunting in a pack, later 
called " running hounds," and then simply hounds. Al- 
though raches or brachets are frequently mentioned in 
the O. F. and Ang.-N. metrical romances, and in various 
early documents, we have never found any description of 
them, but can only gather what they were from the uses 
they were put to. We find that the bracco was used by 
the early German tribes to track criminals, therefore 
they were scenting hounds. There is plenty of evidence 
that they were used for stag, wild boar, and buck hunting 
during the Middle Ages. They were coupled together 
and led by a berner or bracennier or braconnier. Braconnier 
now means poacher, but this is only the later meaning ; 
originally braconnier was the leader of the bracos, or 
huntsman (Daurel, p. 337 ; Bangert, p. 173 ; Dol. 
9188). 



APPENDIX 247 

We gather that these brachets of the early Middle 
Ages were small hounds, sometimes entirely white, but 
generally white with black markings. Sometimes they 
were mottled (bracet mautre). One description of a 
braces corant says this hound was as white as a nut, with 
black ears, a black mark on the right flank, and flecked 
with black (Blancadin, 1271 ; Perc. 17,555, 22,585; 
Tristan M., 1475, 2261 ; Tyolet, 332). 

In the early days in England we find that braches 
were used to hunt up such smaller game as was not un- 
harboured or dislodged by the limer. Twici says : " Sire, 
touz ceaus qe sunt enchaces, sunt meuz de lymer. E tous ceaus 
enquillez sunt trovez de brachez " (see Appendix : Acquillez), 
i.e. All beasts that are enchased are moved by a limer, 
and all those that are hunted up are found by braches 
(Twici, pp. 2, 12). Raches are mentioned in the 
" Boke of St. Albans " among the " Dyvers manere of 
houndes" and the apprentice to venery is told he should 
speak of " A mute of houndes, a kenell of rachys." He 
is also informed that the hart, the buck, and the boar 
should be started by a limer, and that all " other bestes 
that huntyd shall be sought for and found by Ratches so 
free." John Hardyng in his Chronicle, speaking of an 
inroad into Scotland by Edward IV., in whose reign he 
was yet living, said, "And take Kennetes and Ratches 
with you and seeke oute all the forest with houndes and 
homes as Kynge Edwarde with the long shanks dide." 
In the " Squyer of Low degree " we read that the hunts- 
man came with his bugles " and seven score raches at 
his rechase." 

RESEEYUOUR ; the word the most approaching 
this to be found in any dictionary is under the head of 
receiver, M. E. receyvour, one who, or that which re- 
ceives. The reseeyuours were most likely those grey- 
hounds who received the game, i.e. pulled it down after 
it had been chased. We see in our text that teasers and 
reseeyuours are mentioned together (p. 198). The former 



248 APPENDIX 

were light, swift greyhounds ; these were probably slipped 
first ; and the latter (Shirley MS. spells resteynours) were 
the heavy greyhounds slipped last, and capable of pulling 
down a big stag. De Noirmont tells us : Ces derniers 
étaient surnommes receveours ou receveurs (ii. p. 426, and G. 
de F., p. 177). 

RELAYS. In the early days of venery the whole 
pack was not allowed to hunt at the commencement of 
the chase. After the stag had been started from his lair 
by a limer, some hounds were uncoupled and laid on, the 
rest being divided off into relays, which were posted in 
charge of one or more berners along the probable line of 
the stag, and were uncoupled when the hunted stag and 
the hounds already chasing him had passed. There were 
usually three relays, and two to four couples the usual 
number in each relay, though the number of couples de- 
pended, of course, on the size of the hunting establish- 
ment and the number of hounds in the kennel. G. de 
F. calls these relays simply, première, seconde, and tierce. 
The " Master of Game " calls the first lot of hounds un- 
coupled the " finders " (p. 165), though this seems rather a 
misnomer, as the harbourer with his limer [see Limer) 
found and started the deer. The vauntchase for the first 
relay, and the midel speak for themselves, but we have little 
clue to the origin of parfitieres for the third relay. Were 
they so called because they perfected or completed the 
chase, or because they were some of the staunchest 
hounds who could be depended upon to follow the parfit, 
i.e. the right line of the stag or animal hunted ? {see 
Appendix : Parfet). Old authorities seem to have differed 
in opinion as to whether the staunchest and slowest 
hounds should have been put in the first cry or in the 
last (Roy Modus, fol. xvi. ; G. de F., p. 178; Lav., 
Chasse à Courre, pp. 297-8). 

In the " Boke of St. Albans " we read of the vaunt/ay, 
relay, and allay. The first was the name given to 
hounds if they were uncoupled and thrown off between 



APPENDIX 249 

the pack and the beast pursued, the relay were the 
hounds uncoupled after the hounds already hunting had 
passed by ; the allay is held : 

" Till all the houndes that be behynd be cum therto 
Than let thyn houndes all to geder goo 
That is called an allay." 

Instructions concerning when relays should be given 
always warn the berner not to let slip the couples till 
some of the surest hounds have passed on the scent, and 
till he be sure that the stag they are hunting is the right 
one and not a substitute, i.e. one frightened and put 
up by the hunted stag. The " Master of Game M is 
careful also to say : " Take care that thou vauntlay not " 
(p. 169). 

The discontinuing of relays seemed to have been 
begun first in Normandy and probably about the same 
time in England. 

In France the three relays of greyhounds which were 
used were called Lévriers d'estric — i.e. those which were 
first let slip ; lévriers de flanc, those that attacked from 
the side ; and lévriers de tète, those that bar the passage 
in front of the game or head it, terms that correspond 
with our vauntlay, allay, and relay. In the " Master of 
Game's " chapter on the wolf these relays of greyhounds 
are indicated (p. 59). 

RIOT. The " Master of Game's " statement on p. 
74 that no other wild beast in England is called ryott save 
the coney only has called forth many suggestions as to 
the origin of this name being applied to the rabbit, and the 
connection between riot, a noise or brawl, and the rabbit. 
The word riot is represented in M. E. and O. F. by riote y 
in Prov. riota, Ital. riotta, and in all these languages it had 
the same signification, i.e. a brawl, a dispute, an uproar, 
a quarrel (Skeat). 

Diez conjectures the F. riote to stand for rivote, and 
refers to O.H.G. riben, G. reiben, to grate, to rub (orig. 



250 APPENDIX 

perhaps to rive, to rend). From German, sich an einem 
reibeuy to mock, to attack, to provoke one ; lit. to rub 
oneself against one. 

Rabbit, which is in O. Dutch robbe, has probably the 
same origin from reïben. 

The etymology and connection, if any, between the 
two words rabbit and riot is difficult to determine. It is 
very probable that the rabbit was called riot from pro- 
ducing a brawling when the hounds came across one. 
The term "running riot" may well be derived from a 
hunting phrase. 

ROE. The error regarding the October rut into 
which G. de F. and the Duke of York fell was one to 
which the naturalists of much later times subscribed, for 
it was left to Dr. Ziegler and to Dr. Bischoff, the Pro- 
fessor of Physiology at Heidelberg, to demonstrate in 
1843 the true history of the gestation of the roe, which 
for more than a century had been a hotly disputed problem. 
On that occasion it was shown with scientific positiveness 
that the true rut of the roe takes place about the end of 
July or first week in August, and that the ovum does 
not reach the uterus for several months, so that the first 
development of the embryo does not commence before 
the middle of December. 

RUNNING HOUNDS AND RACHES (F. chiens 

courants). Under this heading we include all such dogs 
as hunted by scent in packs, whatever the game they 
pursued might be. They appear in the early records of 
our kings as Canes de Mota, Canes currentes, and as Sousos 
(scenting hounds) (Close Rolls 7 John ; Mag. Rot. 4, 
John Rot. 10 ; 4 Henry III.), and are mentioned speci- 
fically as cervericiis, deimericiis, as Heyrectorum (harriers) 
or canes heirettes, and foxhounds as guplllerettis or wulperkiis 
(Close Rolls, 15 John). 

The Anglo-Saxon word Hundas, hound, was a general 
name for any dog ; the dog for the chase in Anglo-Saxon 



APPENDIX 251 

times being distinguished by the prefix Ren y making 
ren hund. 

Gradually the word dog superseded the word hound, 
and the latter was only retained to designate a " scenting " 
dog. Dr. Caius, writing to Dr. Gesner, remarks in his 
book : " Thus much also understand, that as in your 
language Hunde is the common word, so in our naturall 
tounge dogge is the universall, but Hunde is perticular 
and a speciall, for it signifieth such a dogge onely as 
serveth to hunt " (Caius, p. 40). (See Appendix : 
Raches.) Running hounds was a very literal translation 
of the French chiens courants, and as the descriptive chapter 
given in our text is as literal a rendering from G. de F. 
there is no information that helps us to piece together 
the ancestry of the modern English hound. We do not 
know what breed were in the royal kennels in the reign 
of Henry IV., but probably some descendants of those 
brought to this country by the Normans, about the origin 
of which breed nothing seems known. 

Keep of Hounds. The usual cost of the keep of a 
hound at the time of our MS. was a halfpenny a day, of 
a greyhound three farthings, and of a limer or bloodhound 
one penny a day. 

However for the royal harthounds an allowance of three 
farthings a day was made for each hound (Q. R. Ace. 
1407), and we also find occasionally that only a halfpenny 
a day was made for the keep of a greyhound. In Edward 
I.'s reign a halfpenny a day was the allowance made for 
fox- and otter-hounds (14, 15, 31, 32, 34, Edward I. 
Ward. Ace), and sometimes three farthings and some- 
times a halfpenny a day for a greyhound. The Master of 
Buckhounds was allowed a halfpenny a day each for his 
hounds and greyhounds. 

In the reign of Richard III. the Master of Harthounds 
was allowed 3s. 3d. a day " for the mete of forty dogs 
and twelve greyhounds and threepence a day for three 
limers" (Rolls of Pari., vol. v. p. 16). 

The " Boke of Curtasye " (fourteenth century, Percy 



2 5 2 APPENDIX 

Society, iv. p. 26), gives us information which quite 
agrees with the payments entered in the Wardrobe and 
other accounts of the King's hunting establishment. 
And under the head of De Pistore we find the baker is 
told to make loaves for the hounds : 

" Manchet and chet to make brom bred hard 
ffor chaundeler and grehoundes and huntes reward." 

Chet, a word not in use since the seventeenth century, 
meant wheaten bread of the second quality, made of flour 
more coarsely sifted than that used for manchet, which 
was the finest quality. 

Brom bread was oaten bread, and probably was very 
much the same as a modern dog biscuit. 

One of the ancient feudal rights was that of obtaining 
bran from the vassals for the hounds' bread, known as 
the right of brennage, from bren, bran. 

Although bread was the staple food given to hounds, 
yet they were also provided with meat. At the end of 
a day's hunting they received a portion of the game 
killed (see Curée), and if this was not sufficient or it was 
not the hunting season game was expressly killed for 
them. In a decree from King John to William Pratell 
and the Bailiffs of Falke de Breaut of the Isle of Ely, 
the latter are commanded to find bread and paste for the 
hounds as they may require, "and to let them hunt some- 
times in the Bishops chase for the flesh upon which they 
are fed " (Close Roll, 17 John). In an extract from the 
Wardrobe Accounts of 6 Edward I. we find a payment 
was made of 40s. by the King to one Bernard King for 
his quarry for two years past on which the King's dogs 
had been fed (MS. Phillipps, 8676). 

We find also that " Pantryes, Chippinges and broken 
bread " were given to the hounds, Chippings being fre- 
quently mentioned in the royal accounts as well as meat 
for the hounds (Liber Niger Domus Ed. IV. ; Collection 
of Ordinances of the Royal Households ; Jesse, ii. 125 ; 
Privy Purse Expenses Henry VIII. 1 529-1532). 



APPENDIX 253 

The cost of the keep of some Jof the King's hounds 
were paid for out of the exchequer, others were paid 
from the revenues and outgoings of various counties, and 
an immense number were kept by subjects who held 
land from the crown by serjeantry or in capite of keeping 
a stated number of running hounds, greyhounds, and 
brachets, &c, for the King's use (Blount's Ancient 
Tenures, Plac. Chron. 12, 13 Ed. I.; Issue Roll 25 
Henry VI. ; Domesday, torn. i. fol. 57 v). 

We see by the early records of our kings that a pack 
of hounds did not always remain stationary and hunt 
within easy reach of their kennels, but were sent from 
one part of the kingdom to another to hunt where 
game was most plentiful or where there was most vermin 
to be destroyed. As early as Edward I.'s reign we find 
conveyances were sometimes provided for hounds when 
they went on long journeys. Thomas de Candore or 
Candovere and Robert le Sanser (also called Salsar), hunts- 
men of the stag and buckhounds (Close Rolls 49 Henry 
III. ; 6, 8 Ed. I.), were paid for a horse-litter for fifty- 
nine days for the use of their sixty-six hounds and five 
limers (Ward. Ace. 14, 15 Ed. I.). And as late as 
Henry VIII. 's time the hounds seemed to travel about 
considerable distances, as in the Privy Purse expenses of 
that King the cart covered with canvas for the use of his 
hounds is a frequently recurring item. 

SCANTILON, O. F. eschantillon, Mid. Eng. Scan- 
tilon, Mod. Eng. scantling, mason's rule, a measure ; the 
huntsman is continually told to take a scant'ilon y that is, 
a measure, of the slot or footprint of the deer, so as to 
be able to show it at the meet, that with this measure 
and the examination of the droppings which the huntsman 
was also to bring with him the Master of the Game could 
judge if the man had harboured a warrantable deer 
{see Appendix : Slot and Trace). 

SEASONS OF HUNTING. In medieval times 



254 APPENDIX 

the consideration for the larder played a far more im- 
portant part in fixing the seasons for hunting wild beasts 
than it did in later times, the object being to kill the 
game when in the primest condition. Beginning with 
the — 

Red deer stag : according to Dryden's Twici, p. 24 
(source not given), the season began at the Nativity of 
St. John the Baptist (June 24), and ended Holyrood 
Day (September 14). Our text of the "Master of 
Game " nowhere expressly states when the stag-hunting 
begins or terminates, but as he speaks of how to judge a 
hart from its fumes in the month of April and May (p. 
30), and further says that harts run best from the " entry 
of May into St. John's tide" (p. 35), we might infer 
that they were hunted from May on. He also says that 
the season for hind-hunting begins when the season of 
the hart ends and lasteth till Lent. But as this part of 
the book was a mere translation from G. de F. it is no 
certain guide to the hunting seasons in England. The 
Stag-hunting season in France, the cervaison, as it was 
called, began at the Sainte Croix de Mai (May 3rd) and 
lasted to la Sainte Croix de Septembre (Holyrood Day, 
Sept. 14), the old French saying being: "Mi Mai, mi 
teste, mi Juin, mi graisse ; à la Magdeleine venaison pleine " 
(July 22) (Menagier de Paris, ii.). And although the 
stag was probably chiefly hunted in England between 
Midsummer and the middle of September, when they 
are in the best condition, and it was considered the best 
time to kill them, they were probably hunted from May 
on in the early days in England as they were in France. 
Had this not been customary we imagine the Duke of 
York would have inserted one of his little interpolations 
in the text he was translating, and stated that although 
the season began in May beyond the sea, it only began 
later in England. 

In Twety and Gyfford we read that the "tyme of 
grece, begynnyth allé way atte the fest of the Nativyte 
of Saynt Johan baptist." Later on, according to Dryden, 



APPENDIX 255 

the season of the stag began two weeks after Midsummer 

(July 8). 

Red deer hind y Holyrood Day (Sept. 14) to Candlemas 
(Feb. 2) (Twici, p. 24; Man., p. 181). According to 
others the hind and the doe season ends on Twelfth-day 
or Epiphany (Jan. 6). 

Fallow deer buck. According to the Forest Laws the 
season began at the Nativity of St. John (June 24) and 
ended on Holyrood Day (Sept. 14). Dryden adds a 
second date, i.e. two weeks after Midsummer, to the 
former, but does not quote the source. 

Fallow doe was hunted from Holyrood Day (Sept. 14) 
to Candlemas (Feb. 2). 

Roe deer buck was hunted from Easter to Michaelmas 
(Sept. 29). 

Roe doe y Michaelmas to Candlemas. 

Hare. According to the Forest Laws (Man., 176) the 
season commenced Michaelmas (Sept. 29) and ended at 
Midsummer (June 24) ; Dryden in his notes in Twici 
states that it commenced at Michaelmas and ended at 
Candlemas (Feb. 2), while the "Boke of St. Albans " gives 
the same date as the first-named in Manwood. Accord- 
ing to the " Master of Game " the hare seems to have 
enjoyed no close season, as G. de F.'s assertion that the 
hunting of the hare " lasteth all the year " is also trans- 
lated without comment (p. 14) : Et le peut chassier toute 
F année, en quelque temps que ce soit quar touzjours sa sayson 
dure (G de F., p. 204). 

In Twety and Gyfford we also find that " The hare 
is alway in season to be chasyd." 

In the sixteenth century in France the hare-hunting 
season was from the middle of September till the middle 
of April (Du Fouilloux, p. 51 ; De Noir., ii. p. 476). 
In England the same season seems to have been observed 
(Blome, p. 91). 

Wild boar. According to the Forest Laws (Manwood 
and Twici), the boar was hunted from Christmas Day 
to Candlemas (Feb. 2), but we have evidence that boar- 



256 APPENDIX 

hunting usually began earlier. The boar was in his 
prime condition when acorns, beechmast, and chest- 
nuts were plentiful, and was considered in season from 
Michaelmas to St. Martin's Day (Roy Modus, xxxi.), 
and by some even from Holyrood Day (Bornam, p. 100 ; 
Part, de Blois, 525). 

The huntsmen of King John of England were sent 
to hunt in the forest of Cnappe in order to take two 
or three boars a day in November. King John's letter 
giving instructions on this point to one Rowland Bloet 
is dated 8th November 12 15 (Jesse, ii. 32). 

Wolf, According to the Forest Laws, in the book 
already quoted, the season during which the wolf was 
hunted began at Christmas and ended at the Annuncia- 
tion (March 25), but considering the destruction wrought 
by this beast it is far more likely that it was hunted 
throughout the year. 

Fox. According to the Forest Laws the season opened 
on Christmas Day and ended on March 25, but never- 
theless the fox was hunted early in the autumn, for we 
have it on Twety and Gyfford's authority that "the 
sesoun of the fox begynneth at the natyvite of owre 
Lady, and durryth til the Annunciacion " (Sept. 8 to 
March 25). 

The " Boke of St. Albans " gives the season of the 
fox and wolf from the Nativity to the Annunciation of 
Our Lady and that of the boar from the Nativity to 
the Purification of Our Lady. Manwood and other 
accepted authorities quote the above as alluding to the 
Nativity of Christ, whereas the Nativity of Our Lady, 
Sept. 8, was intended, thereby creating some confusion. 

According to the Wardrobe Accounts of Edward I. 
the foxhunting season began on 1st September (Ward. 
Ace. Ed. I. 1299-1300). 

No doubt one of the reasons why the fox was not 
hunted earlier in the year was on account of the fur, 
which was of course of less use or value if obtained in 
summer. 



APPENDIX 257 

Otter. The Forest Laws give the season as from 
Shrove Tide (Feb. 22) to Midsummer (June 24), but 
we find that in King John's reign the otter was hunted 
in July (Close Rolls 14 John I.). 

Martin, badger, and rabbit were hunted at all seasons 
of the year. 

SNARES. No work dealing with the chase of wild 
animals in mediaeval times would be complete were it to 
omit all reference to snares, traps, gins, pitfalls, and other 
devices to take game other than by hunting. The 
" Master of Game " mentions the subject but briefly, 
saying, " Truly I trow no good hunter would slay them 
so for no good," but " Gaston Phcebus " contains seven- 
teen short chapters in which the author as well as the 
miniaturist describe the various contrivances then in 
use, although the same disdain of these unsportsmanlike 
methods is expressed by G. de F. that marks the Duke 
of York's pages. In the first edition of the present 
work will be found descriptions of the principal snares 
used in the Middle Ages. 

SPANIEL. It is difficult to say at what date these 
dogs were first introduced into our country ; we only 
know that by the second half of the sixteenth century 
spaniels were a common dog in England. In Dr. Caius's 
time the breed was " in full being." He mentions land 
spaniels, setters, and water spaniels, besides the small 
spaniels which were kept as pet and lap dogs. That the 
breed was not then a recent importation we may infer 
from the fact that, when speaking of the water spaniel 
and giving the derivation of the name, Dr. Caius says : 
" Not that England wanted suche kmde of dogges (for 
they are naturally bred and ingendered in this country). 
But because they beare the general and common name 
of these dogs synce the time when they were first brought 
over out of Spaine." 

The chapter in the " Master of Game " on this dog, 

R 



258 APPENDIX 

being translated from G. de F., unfortunately throws no 
light on the history of the spaniel in England, although 
we imagine that, had there been no such hounds in our 
island at the time, the Duke would have made some 
such remark as he has in other parts of his book of their 
being a "manner of" hound as "men have beyond the 
sea, but not as we have here in England." 

In his time the spaniel had enjoyed popularity in 
France for some two centuries, and there was such con- 
tinual communication between France and England in 
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that it would 
have been indeed strange if this most useful dog for 
the then favourite and universal sport of hawking had 
not been brought to England Ions; before his time. 

o q o 

We may conclude that the "gentle hounds for the 
hawk" of which he speaks in his Prologue were not 
spaniels. 

SPAY. . The usual meaning of this word (castrating 
females) given in all dictionaries is clearly inapplicable 
on this occasion (p. 174), where it undoubtedly means 
killing a stag with a sword, probably derived from the 
Italian spada. When the velvet was once off the antlers 
the stag at bay was usually despatched with the bow, for 
it was then dangerous to approach him close enough to 
do so with the sword. When achieved by bold hunters, 
as it occasionally was, it was accounted a feat of skill and 
courage. 

STABLES. O. F. establie^ a garrison, a station. 
Huntsmen and kennelmen with hounds in leash, whose 
duty it was to take up a post or stand assigned to them 
during the chase, were called stables. We have Stabtli- 
tiones venationis that are mentioned in Domesday (i. fol. 
56b and fol. 252). In Ellis's introduction to Domesday 
he says : " Stabiiitio meant stalling the deer. To drive 
the Deer and other Game from all quarters to the centre 
of a gradually contracted circle where they were com- 



APPENDIX 259 

pelled to stand, was stabilitio" Malmesbury, Scriptores, 
post Bedam, edit. 1596, p. 44, speaking of the mildness 
of Edward the Confessor's temper, says, " Dum quadam 
vice venatum isset, et agrestis quidam Stabulata ilia, quibus 
in casses cervi urgentur, confudisset, tile sua nobili percitus ira, 
per Deum y inquit, et matrem ejus ta n tun d em tibi nocebo, si 
potero" (Ellis, i. 112). 

We see, however, at a later date from Twici and 
the " Master of Game " that the watchers or stables they 
allude to were stationary — and did not drive the game as 
described in above. 

These stations of huntsmen and hounds were placed 
at intervals round the quarter of the forest to be driven 
or hunted in with hounds to move the game, so that the 
hounds could be slipped at any game escaping ; some- 
times they were to make a noise, and thus blench or 
head the game back. In French such a chase was called 
a Chasse à titre (Lav. xxviii.), the word titre meaning net 
or tape, but in this case used figuratively. Our " Master 
of Game " evidently placed these stations to keep the 
game within the boundaries so as to force it to pass the 
stand of the King. Twici describes these stations of 
huntsmen, using the word establie. "The bounds are 
those which are set up of archers, and of greyhounds 
(lefrers et de establie) and watchers, and on that account I 
have blown one moot and recheated on the hounds. 
You hunter, do you wish to follow the chase ? Yes, if 
that beast should be one that is hunted up {enquillee), or 
chased I will follow it. If so it should happen that the 
hounds should be gone out of bounds then I wish to 
blow a moot and stroke after my hounds to have them 
back " (Twici, p. 6). 

It was the duty of certain tenantsto attend the King's 
hunts and act as part of the stable. In Hereford one 
person went from each house to the stand or station in 
the wood at the time of the survey (Gen. Introduction 
Domesday, Ellis, i. 195). From Shrewsbury the principal 
burgesses who had horses attended the King when he 



26o APPENDIX 

went hunting, and the sheriff sent thirty-six men on foot 
to the deer-stand while the King remained there. 

Stable-stand was the place where these stables were 
posted or " set," and the word was also used to denote 
the place where archers were posted to shoot at driven 
game. Such stands were raised platforms in some drive 
or on some boundary of the forest, sometimes erected 
between the branches of a tree, so that the sportsman 
could be well hidden. A good woodcut of what was 
probably intended to represent a "stand" is in the first 
edition of Turbervile's " Arte of Vénerie," representing 
Queen Elizabeth receiving her huntsman's report. 

There is no mention made of raised stands in our text, 
but with or without such erections the position taken up 
by the shooters to await the game was called his standing 
or tryste, and a bower of branches was made, to shelter 
the occupant from sun and rain, as well as to hide him 
from the game. Such arbours were called Berceau or 
Berceil in Old French, from the word berser, to shoot with 
a bow and arrow ; they were also called ramiers and folies, 
from rames or branches, and folia, leaves, with which 
they were made or disguised (Noir., iii. p. 354). 

Manwood tells us that Stable-stand was one of four 
" manners in which if a man were found, in the forest, 
he could be arrested as a poacher or trespasser," and says : 
" Stable-stand is where one is found at his standing ready 
to shoot at any Deer, or standing close by a tree with 
Greyhounds in his leash ready to let slip " (Man., p. 193). 

STANKES, or layes ; tanks or pools, large meers. 
Gaston says : Estancs et autres mares ou marrhès (G. de F., 
p. 21). Stank house was a moated house. A ditch or 
moat filled with water was called a tank. 

TACHE, or tecche, Mid. Eng. for a habit, especially 
a bad habit, vice, freak, caprice, behaviour, from the 
O. F. tache, a spot, a stain, or blemish ; also a disgrace, a 
blot on a man's good name. In the older use it was 



APPENDIX 261 

applied both to good as well as bad qualities, as in our 
text. 

TAW, to makes hides into leather ; tawer, the maker 
of white leather. In the fourteenth and early fifteenth 
centuries, in the days of the strict guilds, a sharp line 
was drawn between tawers and tanners, and a tawer was 
not allowed to tan nor a tanner to taw (Wylie, vol. iii. 
p. 195). No tawers were allowed to live in the Forest 
according to the ancient forest laws. 

" If any white Tawer live in a Forest, he shall be re- 
moved and pay a Fine, for they are the common dressers 
of skins of stolen deer" (Itin. Lane. fol. 7, quoted by 
Manwood, p. 161). 

TEAZER, or teaser. " A kind of mongrel greyhound 
whose business is to drive away the deer before the 
Greyhounds are slipt," is the definition given by Blome 
(p. 96). These dogs were used to hunt up the game 
also when the deer was to be shot with the bow. The 
sportsmen would be standing at their trysts or stable- 
stand in some alley or glade of the wood, and the hounds 
be put into the covert or park "to tease them forth" 

TRACE, slot, or footprint of deer. In O. F. and 
Ang.-N. literature the word trace seems to have been 
used indifferently for the track of the stag, wild boar, or 
any game (Borman, notes 147, 236, 237). G. de F. ex- 
pressly says that the footprint of the deer should not be 
called trace but voyes or pies (view or foot), yet the 
" Master of Game " in his rendering says : " Of the hart 
ye shall say l trace,' " so evidently that was the proper 
sporting term in England at the time. When slot en- 
tirely superseded the word trace amongst sportsmen it is 
difficult to determine. Turbervile uses slot, and in the 
beginning of the seventeenth century it seems the general 
term for the footprint of deer (Man., p. 180 ; Stuart 
Glossary, vol. ii. ; Blome, p. 76). Slot, it may be con- 



262 APPENDIX 

tended, is as old a word as trace, but in Mid. Eng. it 
was employed as a general term for a foot-track or mark- 
ing of any animal. The trace or slot was one of the 
signs of a stag, that is the mark by which an experienced 
huntsman could recognise the age, size, and sex of the 
deer. 

The old stag leaves a blunter print with a wider heel 
than a hind, but it is difficult to distinguish the slot of a 
hind from that of a young stag. Although the latter has 
invariably a bigger heel and makes deeper marks with 
his dewclaws, yet his toes are narrow and pointed, their 
edges are sharp, and the distance between his steps is 
somewhat unequal, all of which may lead his slotting to 
be mistaken for the tracks of a hind. " He has found 
what he wanted," says Dr. Collyns, when speaking of 
the harbourer, "the rounded track, the blunted toe 
point, the widespread mark, the fresh slot, in short, of a 
stag " (" Chase of the Red Deer "). 

The huntsman of old used to consider that any slot 
into which four fingers could be placed with ease be- 
longed to a warrantable stag (some declared a stag of 
ten). That would mean that the slot would be about 
three inches wide, if not more. I believe two and a half 
inches is considered a fair measurement for mark of the 
heel by Devonshire stag-hunters, who alone in England 
concern themselves with the differences in the slot, as 
they only chase the wild deer. No such woodcraft is 
necessary for the chase of the carted deer, and as long as 
the master and huntsman can distinguish the footprint of 
a deer from that of any other animal, that is all that is 
required of them in this matter. The stepping or gait 
of a stag is also a sign that was taken into consideration. 
The old stag walks more equally, and generally places 
the point of his hind feet in the heel of his fore feet. 
The gait of a hind is more uncertain ; it is said she mis- 
prints, that is sometimes the hind foot will be placed 
beside the fore foot, sometimes inside or in front of it. 
She is not even so regular in her gait as a young stag, 



APPENDIX 263 

unless she is with fawn, when she will place her hind 
feet constantly outside her fore feet. A hind walks with 
wide-spreading claws, so does a young stag with his fore 
feet, but those of his hind feet will be closed. The 
larger the print of the fore feet are in comparison to the 
hind feet the older the stag. 

The underneath edge of the claws round the hollow 
of the sole was called the esponde (sponde, edge or border). 
In older stags they were blunter and more worn, and in 
hinds and younger deer sharper, unless indeed the stag 
inhabited a damp and mossy country, where the esponde 
would not be so much worn down as if he lived on a 
rocky or stony ground. (G. de F., 155, 129-145 ; Lav., 
p. 246; Stuart, p. 58; Fortescue, p. 133). And thus 
did the woodmen of old study the book of nature, which 
told them all they wished to know, and found for them 
better illustrations than any art could give. 

TRYST, in the language of sport, was the place or 
stand where the hunter took up his position to await the 
game he wished to shoot. The game might be driven 
to him by hounds, or he might so place himself as to 
shoot as the game went to and from their lair to their 
pasturing {see Appendix : Stables and Stable-stand). In 
French it was called shooting à Paffut, from ad fust em y 
near the wood, because the shooter leant his back to, or 
hid behind a tree, so that the game should not see him. 

In our MS. we are told that Alaunts are good for 
hunting the wild boar whether it be with greyhounds, 
at the " tryst," or with running hounds at bay within 
the covert. The tryst here would be the place where a 
man would be stationed to slip the dogs at the wild boar 
as soon as he broke covert, or after the huntsman had 
wounded the boar with a shot from his long or cross- 
bow (p. 118). 

VELTRES, ve/teres, veltrai. A dog used for the 
chase, a hound. Probably derived from the Gaelic words 



26 4 APPENDIX 

ver, large or long, and traith, a step or course, vertragus 
being the name by which according to Arian, the Gauls 
designated a swift hound (Blanc, 52). 

WANLACE. Winding in the chase (Halliwell). In 
the sentence in which this word is used in the chapter 
on the Mastiff (p. 122) we are told that some of these dogs 
" fallen to be berslettis and also to bring well and fast a 
wanlace about." Which probably means that some of 
these dogs become shooting dogs, and could hunt up the 
game to the shooter well and fast by ranging or circling. 
Wanlasour is an obsolete name for one who drives game 
(Strat.). 

In Brit. Mus. MS. Lansdowne 285 there is an interest- 
ing reference to setting the forest " with archers or with 
Greyhounds or with Wanlassours." 

WILD BOAR. These animals were denizens of 
the British forests from the most remote ages, and pro- 
bably were still numerous there at the time our MS. was 
penned. For although the Duke of York has only trans- 
lated one of the eleven chapters relating to the natural 
history, chase, or capture by traps of the wild boar, and 
does not give us any original remarks upon the hunting 
of them, as he has of the stag and the hare, still it was 
most likely because he considered these two the royal 
sport par excellence, and not because there were none to 
hunt in England in his day. If the latter had been the 
case, he would in all probability have omitted even the 
chapter he does give us, as he has done with those written 
by Gaston de Foix on the deer, the reindeer, and the ibex 
and chamois (p. 160). 

In some doggerel verses which are prefixed to " Le 
venery de Twety and Gyfford " (in Vesp. B. XII.), the 
wild boar is classed as a beast of venery. In the " Boke 
of St. Albans " the wild boar is also mentioned as a beast 
of venery. 

When Fitzstephen wrote his description of London in 



APPENDIX 265 

1 174, he says wild boars as well as other animals fre- 
quented the forests surrounding London, and it would 
certainly be a long time after this before these animals 
could have been extirpated from the wild forests in more 
remote parts of the country. 

Sounder is the technical term for a herd of wild swine. 
" How many herdes be there of bestes of venery ? Sire 
of hertis, or bisses, of bukkes and of doos. A soundre 
of wylde swyne. A bevy of Roos " (Twety and Gyf- 
ford). In the French Twici we have also Soundre dez 
pores. 

Farrow (Sub.) was a term for a young pig, in Mid. 
Eng. farh, far, Old Eng. fearh (Strat.). Farrow (verb) 
was the term used when sows gave birth to young. 

G. de F. says that wild boars can wind acorns as far 
as a bear can (p. 58), and turning to his chapter on bears, 
we find that he says that bears will wind a feeding of 
acorns six leagues off ! 

Routing or rooting. A wild boar is said to root 
when he is feeding on ferns or roots (Turb., pp. 153, 

154). 

Argus, as our MS. calls the dew-claws of the boar, were 
in the later language of venery called the gards (Blome, 
p. 102). Twety and Gyffbrd named the dew-claws of 
the stag os and of the boar ergos. " How many bestis 
bere os, and how many ergos ? The hert berith os above, 
the boor and the buk berith ergos." 

Grease, as the fat of the boar or sow was called, was 
supposed to bear medicinal qualities. "And fayre put 
the grece whan it is take away, In the bledder of the 
boore my chylde I yow pray, For it is a médecine : for 
mony maner pyne " (" Boke of St. Albans "). 

WILD CAT [Felts Catus), which at one time was 
extremely common in England, was included among the 
beasts of the chase. It is frequently mentioned in royal 
grants giving liberty to enclose forest-land and licence to 
hunt therein. 



266 APPENDIX 

It was probably more for its skin than for diversion 
that the wild cat was hunted, as its fur was much used 
for trimming dresses at one time. 

The wild cat is believed to be now extinct, not only 
in England and Wales, but in a great part of the South 
of Scotland. A writer in the new edition of the Encyclo- 
paedia Britannica (art. " Cat ") expresses the opinion that 
the wild cat still exists in Wales and in the North of 
England, but gives no proof of its recent occurrence 
there. 

Harvie-Brown in his "Vertebrate Fauna of Argyll" 
(1892) defines the limit of the range of the wild cat by 
a line drawn from Oban to Inverness ; northward and 
westward of this line, he states, the animal still existed. 
But there is no doubt that of late years the cessation of 
vermin trapping in many parts of Scotland, which has 
caused a marked increase in the golden eagle, has had 
the same effect upon the wild cat. 

The natural history chapter of the wild cat is taken 
by the Duke of York from G. de F. ; did we not know 
this, some confusion might have arisen through the fact 
being mentioned that there are several kinds of wild 
cat, whereas only one was known to the British Isles. 
G. de F. says there were wild cats as large as leopards 
which went by the name of loups-serviers or cat wolves, 
both of which names he declares to be misnomers. He 
evidently refers to the Felis Lynx or Lynx vulgaris, which 
he properly classes as a " manner of wild cat," although 
some of the ancient writers have classed them as wolves 
(Pliny, Lib. viii. cap. 34). 

WOLF. For a long time it was a popular delusion 
that wolves had been entirely exterminated in England 
and Wales in the reign of the Saxon King Edgar (956— 
957), but Mr. J. E. Harting has by his researches proved 
beyond doubt that they existed some centuries later, and 
did not entirely disappear until the reign of Henry VII. 
(1485-1509). 



APPENDIX 267 

WORMING A DOG. This was supposed to be 
a preventive to the power of a mad dog's bite. It was 
a superstition promulgated in very early times, and seems 
to have been believed in until comparatively recent times. 
We find it repeated in one book of venery after another, 
French, English, and German : in England by our 
author, Turberviie, Markham, and others. 

Pliny suggests this operation, and he quotes Columna 
as to the efficacy of cutting off a dog's tail when he is 
very young (Pliny, chap. xli.). 

G. de F. and the Duke of York are careful to say 
that they only give the remedy for what it is worth, 
the latter saying : " Thereof make I no affirmation," and 
further on : " Notwithstanding that men call it a worm 
it is but a great vein that hounds have underneath their 
tongue" (p. 87). 



LIST OF SOME BOOKS CONSULTED 
AND ABBREVIATIONS USED IN TEXT 



Albertus Magnus. De Animalibus. Ed. 1788. 

The Secrets of. London, 161 7. 

Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales. 1841. 

of Caitibria. E.Williams. 1823. 

Anc. Ten., for Ancient Tenures of Land. By Thomas Blount. 

London, 1874. 
Andrese, E. C. A. Die Geschichte der Jagd. Frankfurt, 1894. 
Archœologia. Pub. by Soc. of Antiq. Beginning 1770. 
Arcussia, Ch. d'. La Confer e7ice des Fauconniers {Cab. de 

Vénerie, vii.). 1880. 
Arkwright, for The Pointer and his Predecessor. By William 

A. London, 1902. 4to. See Bibliog. in 1st edit. 
Arrow Release, The. By Ed. S. Morse. 1885. 
Aymon, for Le Roman des quatres fils Aymon. Edit. P. 

Tarbé. 1861. 

Bad. Lib. Hunt, for " Badminton Library." Volume on 

Hunting by the Duke of Beaufort and Mowbray Morris. 

Ed. 7. London, 1901. Errors in, see Bibliog. in 1st edit. 
vol. on The Poetry of Sport. London, 1896. Errors 

in, see Bibliog. in 1st edit. 
Bangert, for Die Tiere des Altfranz. Epos. Von Fried. 

Bangert. Marburg, 1885. 
Barrière-Flavy, C. Censier du pays de Poix. Toulouse, 

1898. 
Barthold, F. W. Georg von Frundsberg. 1833. 
Bastard, A. de. Libraire du duc de Berry. Paris, 1834. 
Baudrillart, for Traite des Eaux et Forêts, Chasse et Pêches. 

Par M. B. Paris, 1834. 
Beckford, for Thoughts upon Hare and Fox Hunting. By 

Peter B. London, 1796. 

268 






LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 269 

Beltz, G. F. Memorials of the Garter. 1841. 

Berg, L. F. Freiherr. Gesch. derdentschen Wiilder. Dresden, 

1871. 
Bertheleti, T., General Collectiofis of Statutes, 1 225-1546. 

London, 1543-51. 
Bib. Accip., for Bibliotheca Accipitraria. By James Edm. 

Harting. London, 1891. 
Blancandin, ed. H. V. Michelant. 1867. 
Blane, for Cynegetica, or Observations on Hare Hunting. By 

W. B. London, 1788. 
Blaze, Elezear. Catalogue d'ime Collection. Paris, 1852. 

Le Livre du Roy Modus. Paris, 1839. 

Blome, for The Gentleman's Recreation. By Richard Blome. 

London, 1686. 
Blount, T. A Law Dictionary and Glossary. 1717. 
Bodl. MS. 546, for the MS. of the " Master of Game " in 

the Bodleian Library at Oxford. See " Existing MSS. 

of the ' Master of Game ' " ; see Bibliog. in 1st edit. 
Borman, for Die Jagd in den Altfranz. Artus und Abenteuer 

Romanen. Von Ernst Borman. Marburg, 1887. 
Boldon Book, for Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain 

and Ireland (vol. iii.). By Sir Th. Duffus-Hardy. London, 

i875. 
B. of St. Albans, for The Boke of St. Albans. Edit, by 

William Blades. London, 1881. See Bibliog. in 1st edit. 
" B. ofC." for Boke of Curtasye. 14th cent. poem. Pub. 

by I. O. Halliwell. Percy Soc. vol. iv. 
Bonney, for Historic Notices on Fotheringhay. By Rev. 

H. K. B. Oundle, 1821. 
Borel, P., Dictio?maire des termes du vieux François. 

2 vols. 1882. 
Bouton, Victor. H Auteur du Roy Modus. Paris, 1888. 
Brachet, Ang. An Etymological Dictionary of the French 

Language (Clarendon Press). 1866. 
Brehm, for B.'s Tierleben. 3. ed: Von Dr. Pechuel- 

Loesche. Leipzig and Wien, 1891. 
Brèzé, Jacque de. La Chasse du grand Sénéschal de 

Normandye. Paris, between 1489 and 1494. 
Brière, L. de la. Livre de Frieres par Gaston Phébus (1835). 

Paris, 1893. 
Broebel, P. Die Fdhrte des Hirsches. Halle, 1854. 



270 LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 

Browne, for Pseudoxia Epidemica. By Sir Ths. B. 

1650. 
Brut, for Le Roman de Brut. By Wace. Ed. by Le Roux 

de Lincy. Rouen, 1836-38. 
Budé. Traitte de la Vénerie. Par B. Ed. H. Chevreul 

(Paris). 1861. 
Burrows, Montagu, Prof. The Family of Br ocas. 1886. 

Caius, for Englishe Dogges. By Johannes Caius. Reprint 

of ed. of 1576. 1880. 
Camden, W. Britamiia. 1586. 
Canterbury Tales, Chaucer's. Ed. Furnivall. 1868. 
Castellamonte, A. di. La Venaria reale. Torino, 

1674. 
Catalogue of the Duke of Marlborough's Library at White 

Knight. London, 18 19. 

■ London, 1881-83. 

Oxford, 1772. 

" Cecil," for Records of the Chase. By " Cecil," edit. 

London, 1877. See Bibliog. in 1st edit. 
Chaffourt, Jacques de. Lnstructions. Paris, 1609. (2nd ed.) 
Champgrand, for Traité de Vénerie et Chasse. Par Goury 

de C. Paris, 1769. 
Champollion-Figeac, Aimi. Louis et Charles, ducs d' Orleans. 

Paris, 1844. 
Charles d'Orléans, for Charles de Valois. Les poésies du 

duc Charles d'Orléans. Edit. Champollion-Figeac. Paris, 

1842. 
Charles of Orleans" Poems. Roxburgh Club. Ed. 

G. W. Taylor. London, 1827. 

Edit, by Charles d'He'ricault. Paris, 1874. 



Chassant, Alphonse. L'Auteur du Livre du Roy Modus. 

1869. See Bibliog. in 1st edit. 
Chaucer, Minor Poems. Ed. Furnivall. 187 1. 
Chézelles, H. de. Vieille Vénerie. Paris, 1894. 
Chronique de la traïson de Richard LL. Eng. Hist. Soc. 

1846. 
Cla., for Li Romans de Claris et Laris. Ed. by Dr. Alton. 

1884. 
Clam. La Chasse du loup. Par Jean de Clamorgan. 

Paris, 1566. 






LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 271 

Close Rolls, for Calendars of the Close Rolls preserved in the 

Pub. Rec. Office. 
Codorniu, J. Etude historique sur Gaston Phœbus. Floraux, 

1895. 
Cogho. Des Ersthngs Geweih. Leipzig, 1886. 
Collyns, C. P. The Chase of the Wild Red Deer. London, 

1862. 
Compleat Angler. See Walton. 
Co?n. Sports., for The Complete Sportsman. By T. Fairfax. 

London. 
Corneli, R. Die Jagd. Amsterdam, 1884. 
Cornish, Ch. J. Shooting. Ed. by Horace G. Hutchinson. 

2 vols. (Newnes). London, 1903. 
Cotgrave. Dictionary. 1679. 
Cotgrave and Sherwood's Dictionary. 1632. 

1673. 

Cox, Nich. The Gentleman's Recreation. London, 

1674. 
Cran. Ch., for Anecdotes and History of Cranbourne Chase. 

By Wm. Chafin. London, 18 18. 
Culemann, L. Delineatio Venatus. Hanover, 1564. 
Cupples, George. Scotch Deerhounds and their Masters. 

London, 1894. 
Curmer, L. Verure de J. Foncquet. Paris, 1866. 
Curtasye, Boke of. Ed. by Halliwell. Percy Soc. Pub. 

Vol. iv. 
Cynegetica. London, 1788. 

Dalton, Michael. The Country Justice. 1666. 
Daniel, W. B. Rural Sports. London, 1801. 
D. et B., for Daurel et Beton. Ed. by Paul Meyer. Paris, 

1880. 
Dalziel, for British Dogs. By Hugh Dalziel. 3 vols. 

London, 1887-96. 
Daiirel et Beton. Ed. Paul Meyer. Paris, 1880. 
Due d'Aumale, for Recueil de la Philobiblion Society. Vol. 

ii. London, 1855-56. 
Delacourt, for Le Chasse à la Haie. Par Peigne Delacourt. 

Péronne, 1872. 
Delisle, L. Inventaire des MSS. de la Biblioth. Nationale. 

Paris, 1876, &c. 



272 LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 

De Noir., for Histoire de la Chasse. Par le Baron Dun oyer 

de Noirmont. Paris, 1876. 3 vols. 
Dillon, Viscount. Fairholfs Costumes in England. London, 

1885. 
Ditschfield, R. H. Old English Sport. London, 1891. 
Doebel, H. W. NeuerëffneteJàgerPractica. Leipzig, 1783. 
Dolopathos, for Li Romans de D. Ed. by Brunet et Mon- 

taiglon. 1856. 
Dombrowski, E. von. Die Lehre von dem Zeichen. 1836. 
Dombrowski, R. von. Allgemeine Encyklopadie der 

gesammter Forst und Jagdwissenschaft. Wien, 1886. 
Domesday Book. By Henry Ellis (2 vols.). London, 1833. 
Drake, Francis. Eboracum. London, 1736. 
Dry den, Alice. Memorials of Northanipto?ishire. 1903. 
Dryden, Sir Henry. Twici's Art of Bunting. Middle Hill 

Press. 1840. See Bibliog. in 1st edit. 

Daventry. 1843. 

Gaston III. Le livre de la Chasse. Daventry, 1844. 

Dudik. Kaiser Maximilian's II. Jagdordnung. Wien, 1867. 
Du Fouil., for La Vénerie. Par Jacques du Fouilloux. 

Niort, 1864. 
Dugdale Bar., for The Baronage of England. 1675. 

Eglamoure, for The Romance of E. of Artoys. Camden 

Soc. 1844. 
Ellis. See Domesday Book. 
Elyot, Sir Thomas. The Boke named the Governour. Ed. 

H. H. S. Croft. 1880. 
Emmanuel John, Infant of Spain. El libro de la Caza. 

Edit, by G. Baist. Halle, 1880. 
Ency. of Sport, for Encyclopaedia of Sport. London, 1897. 
Enslin, Th. Ch. Fr. Bibliotheck der Forst and Jagdwissen- 
schaft. Leipzig, 1823. 
Essenwein, Augst. Quellen zur Geschichte der Feuerwaffen. 

1872. 
Estlander, T., for Pieces inédites du Roman de Tristan. 

Ed. by C. G. E. Helsingfors. 1867. 
Evans, D. S. An English and Welsh Diet. 1852-58. 
Ex. Brit. An., for Extinct British Animals. By J. E. 

Harting. London, 1880. 
Excerpta Historica. London, 183 1. 



LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 273 

Fleming, H. F. von. Der Volkommene Teiitsche Jliger 

Leipzig, 1 7 19. 
Fortescue, Hon. J. W. Records of the Stag-hunting on 

Exmoor. London, 1887. 
Foudras, Marquis de. Récits de Chasseurs. Bruxelles, 

1858. 
Fourtier, A. Les grands Louvetiers de France. Paris. 
Frederic IL Reliquœ liborum Frederici II. August. Vindob. 

1596. 
Frunsberg, G. v. Schlacht bet Pavia. 1525. 

Gace de la Buigne. Bulletin du Bibliophile, 13th series, 

by the Due d'Aumale ; also in Philobiblion Society, vol. ii. 

London. See Bibliog. in 1st edit. 
Garin de Loh. Die Geste der Loheraifts. A. Feist. 1884. 
Gamier, P. Chasse du Sanglier. 1876. 
Gaucheraud, H. Histoire de C. de Foix. 1834. 
Gawaine, A Collection of Ancient Romance Poems. Edit, by 

Sir Fred. Madden. 1839. 
G. de F. stands for Joseph Lavallée's edition of Gaston de 

Foix's La Chasse de Gaston Phœbus. Paris, 1854. 
G. de P., for Roman de Guillaume de Paler ne. Ed. H. 

Michelant. Paris, 1876. 
G. de St., for Gottfried von Strassburg. Ed. by P. A. Leh 

mann. Hamburg, 1703. 
Gentleman's Magazine. 1752. 
Gent. Recreation, for Gentleman's Recreation. By Nicholas 

Cox. London, 1686. 
God. de Bouill., for Godefroi de Bouillon. C. Hippeau. 

Paris, 1877. 
Goechhausen, H. F. von. Notabilia Venatoris. Weimar, 

I75 1 - 
Goury de Champgrand. Traité de Vénerie. Paris, 1769. 
Graesse, J. G. T. fàgerbrevier. Wien, 1869. 

Liter aturgeschichte. Dresden, 1845. 

Greyhounds. By a Sportsman. London, 18 19. 

Halliwell, for J. O. H.'s A Selection from the Minor Poems of 
Lydgate. Pub. by the Percy Society. Vol. ii. 1842. 

Carols. Pub. by the Percy Society. Vol. iv. 1842. 

Dictionary of Provincial and Archaic Words. 1850. 

S 



274 LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 

Hammer-Purgstall, Jos. von. Falkner Klee. Wien und 

Pest, 1840. 
Hard, de Font. -G. Le Trésor de la Vénerie. Par Hardouin 

de Fontaines-Guérin. Ed. by Baron J. Pichon. Paris, 

Ï855- 

Ed. by Michelant. Metz, 1856. 

Hardyng, for The Chronicles of John Hardyng. Ed. 1543. 

London. 
Harewood, H. A Dictionary of Sport. London, 1835. 
Harrison, for Harrison's Description of England (Holin- 

shed). Edit, by F. J. Furnivall. London, 1877. 
Hartig, G. L. Lehrbuch fin Jdger. Tubingen, 18 10. 
Harting, James Ed. See Bib. Accip. and Ex. Brit. An. 

Zoologist. 1878-80. 

H. de B., for Huon de Bordeaux. Ed. by F. Guessard and 

C. Grandmaison. Paris, 1866. 
Hartopp, E. C. C. Sport in England. London, 1894. 
Hearne, T. Liber Niger Scaccarii. 1728. 
Heresbach, Conrad. Rei rusticœ libri quatuor . . . Item de 

Venatione. . . 1570. 
Historical Review. Jan. 1903. 
Hollinshed, R. (Harrison). Ed. F. G. Furnivall. London, 

1877. 
Hore, J. P. History of the Buckhounds. 1893. 
Horn., for Das Anglononnannische Lied vom Ritter Horn. 

Ed. by E. Stengel. Marburg, 1883. 
Houdedot, C. F. A. d'. Les Femmes Chasseresses. Paris, 1859. 

Jesse, for Researches into the History of the British Dog. By 

G. R. Jesse. 2 vols. London, 1866. 
Journal des Chasseurs. Vols. 27, 28, 29, and 30. Paris. 
Jubinal, Michel. Nouveau Recueil de Conte, Szc. (La Chace 

dou Serf) 1839. 
Jullien, E. La Chasse, son Histoire et sa Législation. Paris, 

1868. 
La Chasse du Loup. Paris, 1881. 

Karajan, T. G. von. Kaiser Maximilian's Geheimes 

Jagdbuch. Wien, 1858. 
Kellar, for Thiere des Class. Alterthums. Von Otto Kellar. 

Innsbruck, 1887. 



LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 275 

Kennet, White. Parochial A?itiquities. 1695. 
Kobell, F. von. Der Wildanger. Stuttgart, 1859. 
Kreiger, Otto von. Die hoheund niederejagd. Trier, 1879. 
Kreysig, G. C. Biblioteca Scriptorum Veneticorum. Alten- 

burg, 1750. 
Kroeger, C. The Minnesinger of Germany. Camb. (Mass.), 

1873- 

Laborde, Leon E. S. J. de, Glossaire Français du Moyen 

Age. 1872. 

Les ducs de Bourgogne. 1847. 

La Chace dou Serf. Edited by Baron Jerome Pichon. 

Paris, 1840. See also Jubinal. See Bibliog. in 1st edit. 
La Chasse Royal, for La Chasse Royale, composée par le Roy 

Charles LX. Ed. by H. Chevreul. Paris, 1857. 
La Croix, P. La Moyen Age. Paris, 1848-51. 
La Curne de Sainte Palaye : Mémoires sur l'ancienne 

Chevalerie. Paris, 1781. 
La Ferrière, Hector Conte. Les Chasses de Francois L. 

Paris, 1869. 
Lallemand. Bibliothèque historique . . . de la Chasse. 

Rouen, 1763. 
Lancaster, Henry, Earl of. Expenses of John of Brabant. 

Camden Soc, 1847. 
Landau, G. BeitrdgezurGeschichtederJagd. Kassel, 1849. 
Latini, Brunetto. Li livres dou Trésor. Edit, by Chabaille. 

Paris, 1835. 
Lauchert, Prof. Fr. Das Weidwerk der Borner. Rottweil, 

1848. 
Lavallée, for La Chasse à Courre en France par Joseph La 

Vallée. Paris, 1859. 

Techfiologie Cynégétique, Journal des Chasseurs. 1863. 

La Chasse à tir en France. 1854. 

Le Coulteux de Cauteleu, Baron. La Vénerie Française. 

Paris, 1858. 
Leguina, Enrique de. Estudios bibliogrâficos La Caza. 1888. 
Lenz, J. O. Zoologie derAlten Griechen und Borner. Gotha, 

1856. 
Le Verrier de la Conterie. L'Ecole de la Chasse aux Chiens 

Courans. Rouen, 1783. 
Liber Niger. See Hearne. 



276 LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 

Lib. de la Mont., for Biblioteca Venaioria de Gutierrez de la 
Vega, Libro de la Monteria del Rey Alfonso XL. Del D. 
Jose G. d. 1. V. Madrid, 1877. See Bibliog. in 1st edit 

Liebermann, Felix. Constitutionis de Foresta. Halle, A. S. 
1894. 

Lindsay, Robert. Chronicles of Scotland. Edinb., 1814. 

Loh., for Die Geste des Loherains. Ed. A. Feist. 1844. 

Madden, for The Diary of Master Williafn Silence. By 

D. H. M. London, 1897. 
Madden, Sir Fred. Privy Purse Expenses of Princess Mary. 

1831. 
Maison Rustique, for M. R. de Maistres C. Estienne and Lean 

Liebault. Used ed. Paris, 1572 and 1578. 
Malory, for La Morte d'Arthure. Ed. by Sir T. Malory. 

London, 1856. 
Maluquer, Dufau de. Comté de Poix. Foix. Pau, 1901. 
Man., for Manwood's Forest Laivs. 4th ed. by W. Nelson. 

London, 1 7 1 7 . See Pleas of the Forest. 
Markham, Gervase. Country Contentments, or the Hits 

bandman s Recreation. London, 161 1. 

Cheap and Good Husbandry. London, 16 14. 

The Young Sportsman' s Delight and Lnstructor. 

London, 1652. 
Maricourt, René de. La Chasse du Lièvre, &c. Paris, 

1858. 
Maundeville. The Book of John M. Ed. Dr. G. F. Warner 

(Roxburgh Club). London, 1889. 
Meurer, Noe. Jâgerkunst. 1618. 
Meyer, P. Glossaire de la Curne de S. Paley. 1875. 
Millais, J. G. British Deer. London, 1897. 
Monmouth, Gottfried von. Ed. Hoffmann and Vollmiiller. 

Halle, 1899. 
Montauban, Renans de. Ed. by Michelant. 1843. 
Mont., for D antiquité expliquée. By Bernard de Montfaul- 

con. Paris, 17 19. 
Mortillet, G. de. Origines de la Chasse. Paris, 1890. 

Neckham, Alexander. De Naturis Rerum. Edit. Wright, 

1858. 
Négociation du Maréchal de Bassompierre. 1626. 



LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 277 

Nichols, J. Royal Wills. London, 1780. 

Nicolas, Sir N. H. The Battle of Agincourt. London, 1832. 

History of the Navy. London, 1847. 

Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council. 

Privy Purse Expen. of Elizabeth of York and Ward- 
robe Exp. of Edward IV. London, 1830. 
Notabilia Vefiatoris. Nordhausen, 17 10. 

Ordinances. A Collection of O. and Regulations of the Royal 
Household. Soc. of Antiq. 1790. 

Parson, J. W. von. Der edle hirschgerechte Jàger. 1683. 
Patent Rolls (Printed) of the English Kings from Edward 

III. to He?iry VII 
P. B., for Partonopeus de Blois. Ed. G. Crapelet. 2 vols. 

Paris, 1834. 
Pennant, Thomas. British Zoology. London, 1768-76. 
Perc, for Perceval le Gallois. Edited by C. Potvin. Soc. 

des Biblio. Vol. xxi., 1866. 
Petit, Paul. Le Livre du Roy Modus. 1900. 
l^hilobiblion Society. Vol. ii. London, 1854-55. 
Picard, for La Vénerie des ducs de Bourgogne. Par Etienne 

Picard. Paris, 1881. 
Planché, I. R. Military Antiquities. 1834. 
Pleas of the Forest. By G. J. Turner. London, B. Quaritch, 

1901. 
Poetry of Sport, vol. of Badminton Lib. Ed. by Hedley 

Peek. London. 
Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York. London, 1830. 
Prutz, Dr. H. Rechnungen iiber Heinrich von Derby's 

Preussenfahrt. Leipzig, 1893. 

Ramsay, Sir James. Lancaster and York. 1892. 
Raymond, G. Rôles de Vannée de Gaston Phœbus, 1376- 

1378). Bordeaux, 1872. 
Reynardson, C. T. S. B. Sports of Bygone Days. London, 

1787. 
Reissner, Adam. Historische Beschreibung. 1620. 
Ribbesdale, for The Queeris Hounds. By Lord R. London, 

1887. 
Rohan-Chabot. La Chasse a travers les âges. Paris, 1898. 



278 LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 

Rol. Lied., for Das Altfranzotische Rolandslied. Ed. by 

Ed. Max Stengel. Heilbronn, 1878 and 1900. 
Rolls of Pari., for Rotuli Parliamentorum — Edw. III. to 

Henry IV. 
Romania, Octob. Paris, 1844. 
Roman de Richard le Biaus. Ed. Dr. W. Fôrster. Wien, 

1874. 
R. d. B., for Roman de Brut. Par R. Wace. Ed. Le Roux 

de Lincy. Rouen, 1838. 
Roman de Perxevalle Gallois. Ed. Ch. Potvin. Mons, 1871. 
Roman le, de Rose. Ed. F. Pluquet. 1827. 
R. de Rou., for Le Roman de Rou. By Robert Wace. Ed. 

by F. Pluquet. 1827. 
R. V., for Roman de la Violette. Ed. Fr. Michel. Paris, 

1834. 
Roy Modus, for Elezéar Blaze's ed. of Le Livre du Roy 

Modus. Paris, 1839. See Bibliog. in 1st edit. 
Rye, W. B. England as seen by Foreigners. London, 

1865. 

Sahl., for Englische Jagd, Jagdkunde und Jagdliteratur im 
14. 15. und 16. Jahrhund. Von Paul Sahlender. 
Leipzig and London, 1895. 

Der Jagdtraktat Twicfs. Von Paul Sahlender. 

Leipzig, 1894. 

Das Englische Jagdweseti in seiner gesch. Entwic' 



lung. Von D. P. Sahlender-Bautzen. Dresden and 

Leipzig, 1898. 
Sainte-Palaye, for Mémoires sur Pa?uiemie Chevalerie. Par 

M. de la Curne de S.-P. 3 vols. Paris, 1781. 
Salnove, R. de. La Venarie Royale. Paris, 1655. Niort, 

1888. 
Scandianese, F. G. Delia Caccia. Vinegia, 1556. 
Sen. de Nor., for Sénéschal de Normandye, or Le livre de la 

Chasse et du bon chien Souillard. Par le Baron Jer. 

Pichon. Paris, 1858. 
Shaw, Vero. The Book of the Dog. London, 1889-91. 
Shirley, for English Deer Parks. By Evelyn Ph. S. London, 

1867. 
Shirley MS., for Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 16,165 of the 

" Master of Game," which is the version next in importance 



LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 279 

to the one reproduced in the present work. See Biblio- 
graphy : MSS. of the " Master of Game " in 1st edit. 
Smith, Sir Thomas. De Republica Anglorum. London, 

J 5 8 3- 
Souhart, for Bibliographie des Ouvrages sur la Chasse. Par 

R. Souhart. 1886, with two additions of 1888 and 1891. 
Statutes of the Realm. 1810-1822. (9 vols.) 
Stisser, F. U. Forst una 1 Jagd Histor. der Teutschen. Jena, 

1733. 
Slrassburg, Gottfried von. Ed. P. A. Lehmann. 'Hamburg, 

1703. 
Stratmann, F. H. Middle English Die. Rev. by H. 

Bradley. 1891. 
Strutt, J. Sports and Pastimes of the English People. Ed. 

1875. Errors m it, Appendix in 1st edit. 
New ed. by J. C. Cox. 1903. 



Dress and Habits of the People of England. 



Stuart, for Lays of the Deer Forest. By J. Sob. and Ch. 
Stuart. 2 vols. Edin. and London, 1848. 

Taplin, W. Sporting Dictionary. 

Tarbé, Prosper. Le Noble et Gentil jeu de Varbalaste. 

Reims, 1841. 

Le Roman des quatres fils Aymon. 1861. 

Tardif, for L'Art de Fauconerie et des chiens de Chasse» 

Par Guillaume T. Paris, 1492. 
Thierbach, T. Die Geschichtliche Entwicklung der Haud- 

feueqswaffen. Dresden, 1886-89. 
Topsell, Edward. The Historié of Fovre-footed Beastes. 

London, William laggard, 1607. 
T. and !.. for Tristan und L solde. Von Gottfried von 

Strassburg. Ed. Her. Kurtz. Stuttgart, 1844. 
T. M., for Tristan: Receuil de ce qui reste des poèmes. Ed. 

by Fr. Michel. 3 vols. London, 1835-39. 
Topham, J. Observations on the Wardrobe Accounts of the 

28th year of Edivard I. 1787. 
Traité {Nouveau) de Vénerie. Paris, 1750. 
Traité des Chasses (Anon.). 2 vols. Paris, 1822. 
Traité des Chasses et de la Vénerie. Paris, 1681. 
Treat, on Grey h., for A Treatise on Greyhounds. By a 

Sportsman. London, 1825. 



2 8o LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 

T. Tresson, for Histoire de Tristan de Leonois. Ed. by 

Comte de Tresson. Paris, 1781. 
Tristan. Ed. Fr. Michel. 3 vols. London, 1835-39. 

de la Table Ronde. Pr. Ant. Verard. Paris, 1495. 

Turber., for The Noble Art of ' Venery or Hunting. London, 

1575-76. (When not specially mentioned, the second 

edit, of 161 1.) 
Twety and GyrTord (also written Twety and Giffard), for 

article under that title in the ReliqaicB Antiqnœ. Vol. i., 

where Thomas Wright published Twici's Art of Huntings 

in Brit. Mus. MS. Vespasian B. XII. Bibliog. 1st edit. 
Twici, for The Art of Hunting. Bv William Twici (MS. 

Phillipps, 8336). Edited by (Sir) H. E. L. Dryden. 

Daventry, 1843. Bibliog. 1st edit. 
Tyolet, Romania. Edited by G. Paris, 1885. 

Usk, Adam of. Chronicon. Ed. London, 1876. 

Vallès, Mossen Juan. Tratado de Afonteria. 1556. 
Vénerie Nor., for Vénerie Normande. Par M. le Verrier 

de la Conterie. Rouen, 1778. 
Ver de la Cont., for L Ecole de la Chasse aux Chiens 

Courans. Par M. de le Verrier de le Conterie. Rouen, 

1763. 
Vignancour, Emile. Recueil de Poésies Béarnaises. 4th 

Edit. Pau, 1886. 
Vincentius Bellovacensis. Bibliotheka Mundi. Edit, of 1624. 

Speculi m ajoriis . 1 5 9 1 . 

Vyner. Notitia Venatica. 

Wagner, F. von. Diejagd des grossen Wildes im Mittelalter. 

Wien, 1844. 
Walton, for The Compleat Angler. By Izaak Walton. 

Used éd. London, 18 15. 
Wardrobe Accounts for the reigns of Edivard III. to Henry 

IV. 
Werth, Hermann. Ùber die Àltesten franz. Ûbersetzungen 

Mittelalt. Jagdlehrbiicher. Gôttingen, 1888. 

Altfranzosische Jagdlehrbiicher. Halle, 1889. 

Whitaker, Joseph. The Deer Parks of England. London, 

1892. 



LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 281 

Will, of Paterne. See G. de P. 
Wright, for A History of Domestic Manners in England. 

By Thomas Wright. London, 1862. 
Wylie, for History of England under Henry IV. By James 

H. Wylie. London, 1884-98. 4 vols. 
Wynn, for History of the Mastiff. By M. B. Wynn. Melton 

Mowbray, 1886. 

D'Yauville. Traité de Vénerie. Paris, 1688. 



GLOSSARY 



OF OBSOLETE ENGLISH TERMS AND WORDS 
OCCURRING IN THE ANCIENT TEXTS 
OF "THE MASTER OF GAME" AND IN 
APPENDIX. 



Abai, abay, being at bay, 29, ï 1 8 

ACHARNETH, ACHARNE, to set 

on, to eat flesh, 59, 60, 62 
ACHAUF, heat, 38, 98 

ACQUILLER, ENQUILLER, to 

rouse animals of the chase 

with hounds, App. 
AFERAUNT, the haunch, 38 
Affeted, fashioned, trained, 27, 

141 
AFORCE, fiarforce,by force, App. 
Aiguillounce, thorny 
Akelid, cooled, 186 
Akire, Akkerne, acorns, 144 
Alauntis, alauntz, alond, 

allans or allauntes, a large 

hound, 3, 1 16-8 
Alvelue, covered with fleece, 

fat or woolly substance, App. 
ANALED, for avaled, hanging 

down, 1 14 
Anceps, haussepied, a snare 

which caught the game by the 

foot and lifted it into the air, 

61 
Anches, rosemary 
APEL,French hunting-note,App. 
Aperyng, stoned, the rough- 
ness of antlers, 143 
Apparaille, dressed venison 
Arbitten, bitten, devoured 



Arblast, cross-bow, 27 

Areche, reach, 60 

ARERE, arrière, behind, back 

there, 182, App. 
Areyn, spider, 137 
Areyn, rain, 157 
Arracher, to tear out ; a term 

used for skinning certain 

animals, App. 
Asaute, saute, in heat, 64, 66 
Ascriethe, ascrie, to rate, 

shout at, to scold, 63, 74, 170 
Assaien, try or test, 88 
Assaye, essay, to try; taking 

assay, to see by a cut the 

thickness of the fat, App. 
Assise, note on hunting-horn 

blown at death of stag which 

has been hunted by stag- 
hounds, App. 
Asterte, escape 
Astifled, inflammation in the 

stifle-joint, 103 
Astried, rated, shouted at, 170 
Athrest, thrust or push, 106 
Atte fulle, when the stag's 

antlers show a certain number 

of tines, App. 
Attire, the stag's antlers, App. 
Aualed, availed, hanging 

down, 106, 1 14 



282 



GLOSSARY 



283 



AUERILLE, Avrille, April, 30 

AUNTELERE, AUNTILLER, AUN- 

CULER, antler, 130, 140 
Auntred, ventured, 28 
Avaunt, auaunt, a hunting 

cry, " Forward," 182 
Avauntellay, relay of hounds 
Avayl, avail, profit, 13, 31 
Avenaund, approachable 
Avenery, oats 

AviSED, aware of, warned, in- 
formed, advised, cautious 
Avoy, a hunting cry, probably 
from " Away," App. 

Bace, for Luce, a pike 
Baffers, barkers, 120 
Bake, back 
Balista, balesta, cross-bow, 

haronsblast, 27 
Balowe, bellow, roaring of a 

stag 
Bandrike, baldric, belt to 

which horn was fastened, 128, 

140 
Barateur, quarreller 
Barbouris, barbers 
Bareyn, barren, 35 
Basco, Basque, Biscay, 106 
Batyd, bruised, sore, 98 
Batyng, bating 
Baudes, baubles, trifles, 83 
Beam, the main part of the 

stag's antlers, 142 
Beendyng, bending 
Beerners, berners, attend- 
ant on hounds, 148, 165 
Beestale, bestaile, beasts, 

cattle, 36, 61 
Beestis, beasts, App. 
Bellen, belowyn, belerve, 

BELOWEN, bellow or roar, 160 
Beluez, velvet, 26 
Beme, beam; also trumpet 
Benes, beans, 26 
BERCEL,a mark to shoot at, App. 
Bercelet,berslettis, barce- 



LETTE, a shooting-dog used 
by archers, 122 
Beries, burrows, earth of fox 

and badger, 67, 68 
Beryed, buried 
Berying, bearing, breaking, 136 
Bestis of the Chace, beasts 
of the chase, usually fallow 
deer, roe-deer, fox, martin, 3 
Bestis of Vénerie, beasts of 
venery, usually the hart, hare, 
boar, and wolf", 3 

Bevy, a number of roe-deer 
together, App. 

Bevygrease, the fat of the roe- 
deer, App. 

Bewellis,ba\vaylles, bawel- 
lis, bowels 

Billetings, the excrements of 
the fox, App. 

Bisses, bises, bisches, red- 
deer hinds 

BiSSHUNTERS, fur-hunters, 74 

Bitte, bitten, taken, 17, 186 

Blenches, marks, tricks, de- 
ceits, 159 

Bocherie, butchery, 1 16 

Bokeying, the rut of the roe- 
deer, 41 

BOLN, BOLK, BOLNE, bellow or 
bark, 39, 162 

BOOCHERS HOUNDIS, butchers' 
dogs, 118 

Boole, bull, 118 

Boones, bones, stag's foot 

BOONYS, bones, 131 

Boordcloth, table-cloth, 164 

BOORDES, boards 

Booris, boars, 143 

Boost, boast 

Botches, booches, sores, 63 

Botirflies, butterflies, 66 

Bounte, bounty, goodness, 79 

Bouyes, boughs, Àpp. 

Bowis, bowes, boughs, 137, 153 

I Brach, BRACHE, a scenting- 

hound; later on it meant bitches 



28 4 



GLOSSARY 



Brachetus, a hound for hunt- 
ing, 22 

Braconier, the man who held 
the hounds 

Brayne, breyn, brain, 176 

Brede, breadth 

Brede, broad, 138 

Breke, brook, break ; also ap- 
plied to dress a deer 

Bremed, burnt, 112 

Brent, burnt, 79 

Breres, briars, 93 

Brigilla, mildew, 96 

Brimming, bremyng, be in 
heat, said of boar ; the word 
breme, bryme, or brim, valiant- 
spirited, 47 

Broacher, a red-deer stag of 
second year, App. 

Brocard, a roebuck of the 
third year and upwards, App. 

Brock, badger, App. 

Brokes, brooches, broaches, 
the first head of a red-deer 
stag, and of roebuck, 45 

Broket, brocket, youngstag, 29 

Broket's sister, hind in the 
second year, App. 

Brond, proud, 46 

BUCHE, BYCHES, bitch 

Bugle, buffalo ; also horn for 
soundinghunting signals,App. 

BUKKES, BUKES, BUCKES, bucks 

Bukmast, beechmast, App. 
Bulloke, young stag in second 

year, 29 
Burnysshen, burnish, to rub 

the antlers when the velvet 

is off, 134 
Burr, the lowest part of the 

stag's antlers 

Caboche, to cut off the hart's 
head near the antlers, 176 

Calf, calfe, the young stag in 
his first year 

Camamyle, camomile, 95 



Campestris, beast of the field 
or chase — i.e. buck, doe, fox, 
martin, and roe-deer 

Candlemas, February 2 

Caraynes, carreyns, karin, 
carrion, carcase, 62, yy 

Cardiac, cardryacle, a dis- 
ease of the heart, 34 

Carres, marshes, 45 

Case to, stripping or skinning 
the hare, App. 

Catapucia, spurge {Euphorbia 
resi?iiferd), 101 

Catt, catte, cattys, cat, App. 

Cautelous, cautels, cautious, 
crafty, 45 

Cete, a number of badgers 

Chaceable, chaseable, a hert 
chaseable, which is now called 
a warrantable stag, one fit to 
be hunted 

CHACECHIENS, grooms in at- 
tendance on hounds, 148, 177 

Chalaunge, challenge 

Chase, forest ; also used to de- 
signate a method of hunting, 
and also a hunting-party 

Chasse, a French hunting-note 

Chastised, trained, 189 

Chater, chacer (rechater, 
RECHEAT), a horn signal ; also 
to chastise hounds 

Chaufed, achaufed, heated, 
in heat, 49, 98 

Chaule, chaulis, chavel, 
jaw, 170 

Chaunge, change, 31, 108, 111 

Cheere, chere, cherish, wel- 
come, 85 

Cheveraus, roe-deer 

Chibollis, chives, 90 

Childermas, Innocents' Day 
(December 28) 

Chis, dainty, 83 

Chivaucher, chevaucher, to 
ride 

Chymer, riding-cloak 



GLOSSARY 



285 



Chymneyis, chimney, 98, 126 
Clees, clawes, the "toes" of a 

deer's foot, 77, 80, 131 
Cleeves, sur or dew cleeves at 

the back of a deer's fetlock 
Cleped,clepyd, called, 59, 140 
Clere speres, clear spires, 

woods, App. 
Clicqueting, vixen fox when 

in heat, App. 
Clistre, enema, 100 
Coddes, testicles of the hart 
Coiting stone, a quoit 
Colers, COLIERS places, col- 
lier or charcoal pits, 26 
Concilida MAIOR, comfrey 

(Syinphytum officinale), 98 
Concilida minor, prunella, 

selfheal (Prunella vulgaris), 

98 
Coninger, conigree, rabbit 

warren, App. 
Contre, counter, back, heel 
Contre, country, 36 
Controugle, contreongle, 

hunt counter, hunt heel, 150 
Conynge, rabbit, 18 
Coolwort, cabbage, 100 
Copeis, COPIS, coppice, 155 
Corner, coRNEER,horn blower 
Cotes, quoits, 178 
Couch, the resting-place of 

game ; also hound's bed 
Couchers, setters, 120 
Couertts, covert, shelter 
Counterfeet, COUNTFEIT, ab- 
normal, 28, 142 
Courser, cursar, curser, 

swift horse 

COUTHEN, CONTHEN, COUTH, 

knew, to be able, ob. could, 2 
Cowe, cow, also tail, from queue 
Crie, cry (of hounds), 65 
Croches, the upper tines of a 

deer's horns; called also troches 
Croise, cross, 150 
Crokes, stomach (of red-deer) 



Crokyng, crooked, curved, 128 

Crommes, crumbs 

Cronen, groan, the roar of the 

stag 
Cross to, to dislodge roe-deer 

by hounds 
Crotethe, voiding excrements, 

29 
Crotey, crotils, crotisen, 

CROTisiNGS, excrements, 16, 

29, 30, 133 
Cuer, COER, heart 
CUIR, QUIR, leather, hide 
Curée, cure, rewarding the 

hounds (also Kyrre and 

Guyrre), 7 29, 52, 208 
Curres, currys, curs 
Curtaise, courteous, 115 

Daungere, danger, 161 

Dedis, deeds, 49 

Dedut,deudiz,deduiz,<^v///z/, 
pleasure pursuit, sport 

Defaute, defaunt, lack, de- 
fault, 84, 140 

Defet, deffeten, opening or 
undoing the boar and remov- 
ing the entrails 

Defoile, track, 150 

Delyuere, deliver, active, 124 

Depiled, stripped of hair 

Desfaire, undoing (brittling) 
of deer or boar, App. 

Despitous, despytous, de- 
spiteful, furious, 49 

Desterere, destrier, horse 

Détourner (le cerf), to har- 
bour the hart, App. 

Deyeng, doing 

Deym, deyme, daine, dine, 
fallow-deer 

DlSLAUE, wild, 159 

Dissese, disease 

Doo, doe 

Down, or huske, a number of 
hares, App. 

Dragmes, drachms 



286 



GLOSSARY 



Dreynt, drowned 

Drit, dritt, excrements of 
animals called "stinking 
beasts," also mud, 50, 66 

Dryen, dry, 102 

DRYUE, driven, 128 

Dryve, made 

DUNE, donn, dun 

Dure, to last, endure, 43 

Dyette, diet 

Earth, a fox and badger's 
lodging-place, App. 

Edight, done, set in order 

Eelde, old age, 123 

Eendis, ends 

EEREN, hairs, 44 

Eerys, eres, ears 

Egre, eager, 115 

ElRERES, harriers, 190 

Ellis, else, 90 

Emelle, emel, female, 41 

Empaumure, the croches or top 
tines of a stag's antlers, App. 

Enbrowed, brewed, soaked, 
177 

Enchace, to hunt, 108 

Encharnyng, blooding, feed- 
ing on flesh, 113 

Enchasez, moving deer, &c, 
with a limer, App. 

Encorne, to place a dead stag 
on his back, the antlers on 
the ground underneath the 
shoulders, 174 

Enfourmed, informed 

Engleymed, glutinous, 29 

Enosed, a bone in the throat, 87 

Enpeshed, prevented, 11 

Enquest, hunt, 182 

Enquiller, rousing a buck 

with hounds, App. 
Enquyrid, enqueyrreide 
blooding hounds after death 
of deer; also rewarding of 
hounds, 173 

Ensaumple, example, 79 



Entente, intent 

Entrying, entering, beginning 
of 

Entryngis, entering, begin- 
ning of, 35 

Envoise, envoyse, O.F. en- 
voisse, to leave the line, or 
overshoot the line of the 
animal hunted, 31, 108, 170 

Erbis, herbs 

Eres of roebuck, " target," 44 

Ergots, argus, claws of boar, 
buck and doe ; those of the 
boar were sometimes called 
gardes, 130, 144 

Eris, eres, ars, anus, hinder 
parts ; ears, occasionally thus 
spelt, 89, 95, 106, 116 

Erthe, earth 

ESCORCHER, ESTORCHER, flay- 
ing deer, and other beasts of 
venery, App. 

ESPAULES, shoulders 

ESPAYARD, SPAYARD, SPAYER, 

stag of the third year, App. 
Essemble, assembly, 150 
Establie, stand occupied by 

sportsmen ; also beaters 

ESTORACIS CALAMITA, Storax, 

resin, 96 
Esye, easy 
Etawed, tanned 
Etyn, itvn, eat 
Euenyngis, evening, 11 
Euerychone, everichon, 

each one, every one, 163 
EuiLLE, euell, evil, wicked, 

bad, 6 
Evoised, at fault, or off the line 
Expedite, to maim dogs by 

cutting off some of their claws 
Eyne, eygh, eynen, eye, 116 
Eyre, air 

Façon, faucon, falcon, 121 
Fadir, fadere, father, 105 
Fadmys, fadoms, fathoms, 125 



GLOSSARY 



287 



Farowe, farewyn, pharo- 
WYN, farrow, bringing forth 
young pig, 47, 48, 68 

Farsyn, farsine, farcy, 69,, 92 

Fasson, fassion, fashion 

Faund, fawned 

Faus, false 

Fausmanche, false sleeve 

Faut, fault 

Fechewe, fitchew, polecat 

Feeldes, fields, 158 

Feerne, fern 

Felaues, fellows 

Fele, many ; also sensible. 
feeling 

Felle, fierce, cruel, treacherous 

Felle, FELE, wise, sensible, feel- 
ing; also cunning, 30, 115 

FELNESSE,cruelty, fierceness, 71 

Femellis, females 

FENCEMONTH, the month when 
deer had their young and 
were left undisturbed, App. 

Fermyd, firm, 162 

Ferre, far, 16 

Ferrettis, ferrets, 72 

Ferrtest, farthest 

Fers, fierce, 47 

Fersliche, fiercely, 86 

FESAWNT, pheasant 

Feueryere, February 

Fewes, fewte, track, trace, 
foot. Some animals were 
called of the sweet foot, others 
of the stinking foot, 10. See 
Appendix. 

Fewterer, feutreres, few- 
trees, man who leads grey- 
hounds, 129 

Fiants, also Lesses, excre- 
ments of the wild boar, App. 

Fistoles, fistula, 92 

Fixen, vixen, O.G.fuchscn, 64 

Flay, flean, flene, to skin 
deer and certain other game, 

174 
Flayssh, flesh, 5 



Flux, dysentery 

FOILLYNG, stag going down- 
stream when hunted, 32, 173 

Folies, foly, folly, lesser 
deer, not hart or buck, 196 

FOLTISCH, foolish, 45 

FOORME, FORME, FOURME, 
form of the hare, 14, 17 

Foragle, strangle, straggle 

FORCHE, FOURCHED, forked, 

said of stag's antlers, 140, 177 

FORLOYNE, FORLOGNE, FOR- 

longe, a note sounded on 
the horn, to denote that the 
quarry or hounds or both had 
distanced the hunters, 173 

FORSTERS, foresters , 148 

F ors wong, M.E. Forswinger^ 
bruised, beaten (tucked up), 88 

Fort, the thick part of woods 

Forun, forewarn, 148 

FOTYDE, footed 

Fouaill, the reward given to 
the hounds after a boar hunt, 
consisting of the bowels 
cooked over a fire, App. 

Foumart, faulmart, fol- 
mert, polecat 

Fowtreres, fewterers, 

huntsmen who led grey- 
hounds, slippers 

FOXEN, FFIXEN, A.S. fixeil— 

vixc7i, a bitch fox, 64 
Foyne, weasel 
Fraied, rubbed, 135 
Fray, frighten, scare, 149 
Fray, to rub off the velvet on 

stag's antlers, 26, 135 
Fraying-post, the tree against 

which it was done 
Freyn, excrements of the wild 

boar, App. 
Froot, frotid, rub, 53, 94, 95, 

146 
FUANTS, excrements of the 

fox, martin, badger, and 

wolf, App. 



288 



GLOSSARY 



Fues, track, line, 18, 31 
Fumes, fumee, fumagen, 
fimeshen, fewmets, feme- 
GEN, FEWMISHINGS, excre- 
ments, droppings, particularly 
of deer, 9, 16, 38, 39, 133 
Furkie, pieces of venison hung 

on a fork-shaped stick 
FuRROUR, fur, Y r. fourrure, 63 
Futaie, futelaie, forest, wood 
of old trees, also plantation of 
beech-trees, App. 
Fynders, finders, hounds to ! 
start or find deer, 161, 165 

Gaderynge, gaderyng, gath- I 

ering, meet, 156, 163 
Gadire, gather, 43 
Gar, to force, to compel, 39 
Gardes, the dew-claws of the ! 

wild boar 
Garsed, cupped, 90 
Gin, gynne, trap, snare 
Girle, the roebuck in the 

second year, App. 
GiSE, guise, manner of 
Gladnesse, a glade, a clear 

space, 137 
Glaundres, glanders, 96 
Glemyng, gleyming, slime, 

stickiness, 133 
Gloteny, gluttony 
Gnappe, snap, 92 
Gobettes, small pieces, 81, 177 
Goot, goat 
GORGEAUNT, wild boar in his 

second year 

GOTERS, GOOTERE, GOUTIERES, 

gutters, the small grooves in 

the antlers of a stag, 143 
Graunt SOUR, stag of fifth year 
Grauyll, gravel, 143 
Grease, grece, the fat of 

certain animals, 25, 27, 49 
Grease-time, the season of 

hart and buck when they were 

fattest, 160 



Greater, of the, term used 

in counting the tines of a 

stag's antlers, App. 
Grede, seek, hunt, 183 
Gres, upper tusks of wild boar, 

grinders, 50 
Gressoppes, grasshoppers, 66 
Grete, greet, great, 13 
Greue, grieve, harass, injure, 45 
Grey, badger, 68 
Grovys, grooves 
Gustumes, customs, 4 
Guttes, guts 
Guyen, gueyne, Guienne 
Guyrreis, quarry (curée), 105 
Gynnes, GYNES, gins, traps, 

ruses, wiles, tricks, 35, 73 
Gynnously, by stratagem or 

ingenuity, 15, 39,43*59 

Haies, hayes, nets, hedges, 74 

Hallow, the reward given to 
the hounds at the death 

Halowe, halloa, App. 

Hamylons, the wiles of a fox 

Harbour, herborowe, har- 
boure, harborow, to track 
a hart to his lair, 29 

Harbourer, man who har- 
bours the deer, 130, 148 

Hardiethe, herds with 

Hardle, herdle, herdel, 
harling, hardel, fasten or 
couple hounds together, also 
to fasten the four legs of a 
roebuck together, 45, 190 

Hardy, bold, courageous 

Haris, hares, 17 

Harnays, herneis, harness, 
appurtenances, arms, &c, 60 

Haronsblast, a crossbow, 
from O.F. Arcbaleste, 27 

Harowde, herald, 139 

Harthound, herthound, 
hound used to chase the stag 

Hast, haste 

Hastilettiz, the dividing of 



GLOSSARY 



the wild boar into thirty-two 

pieces 
Hatt, hath 
Hatte, thicket, 118 
Haukes, hawks, 120 
Haukyng, hawking 
Hauntelers, antlers, App. 
Hauspee, haussepee, a trap ; 

also a siege engine, 61 
Hayter, harrier, App. 
Hearse, also Broket's sister, 

a red-deer hind in her second 

year, App. 
Heddyd, headed 
Heere, hair, 27 
Heghes, hocks 
Heirers, harriers, 1 1 1 
Hele, helthe, health 
Helyn, heal, 127 
Hemule, hemuse, heymuse, 

roebuck in the third year 
Hendis, red-deer hind, 130 
Her, hear 
Herbis, herbs, 14 
Herborowe. See Harbour 
Herdle, to dress a roebuck 
Herneis, harness. See Har- 

NAYS, also Appendix 
Heroun, heron, 1 
Hert, heart ; also stag, 23, 34 
Hertis, harts, stags, 130 
Hidre, hinder 
Highten, called, named, 148, 

182 
Hire, her, 19 
HOGGASTER, wild boar in his 

third year, App. 
HOKKES, HOGHES, HOUGHS, 

hocks, 99, 114 
Hookes, hooks, first teeth of 

wolf and dog, 56, 83 
Hoot (be), promised, 79 
Hoote, hot, 32 

HOPELAND, HOPOLAND, HOUP- 

PELAND, a long surcoat or 
gownlike garment 
Hoppyn, hoping 



Horred, hairy, 106 

HOS, hoarse, 66 

Houe, hoof 

Hough, howff, houff, a 
haunt, a resort, used especi- 
ally for the holt, or dwelling- 
place of an otter, App. 

Houndis, hundes, hounds ; 
also hands, 1 

HoUNGER, hunger 

Hounter, hunter 

Hovvlyn, howl 

Hoxtide, feast fifteen days 
after Easter, App. 

HuSKE, a number of hares, App. 

Iboyled, boiled 
Iclepid, called, 105, 144 
Ileyn, lain, 136 
ILLOEQUES, ILLEOQS, here in 
this place, 183, 234 

ILOST, lost 

Imakyd, made, 137 
Imeyngid, mingled, 102 
Imprime, unharbouring a hart 
INGWERE, INQUERE, inquire or 

seek, 151 
Ipressid, pressed, 136 
Ireeyned, rained, 157 
I REN, iron, 90 
Irenged, arranged, 142 
Ironged, ranged 
IROOS, iris, 93 
Ispaide, spayed, castrated ; also 

to kill with a sword. See Spay 
I STAMPED, stamped, crushed, 93 
Istered, stirred, 91 
Itawed, tawed, tanned, 126 
Ithrest, thrust, pushe, 136 
Itred, trodden 
Itynded, tined, 142 
Iweryd, worn, 147 
Iweted, wetted, moistened, 97 
Iwrethede, wreathed, 133 

Jangelere, jangler, 124 
Jannere, January 

T 



go 



GLOSSARY 



Jawle, jaw, 50 

Jengeleth, jangeleth, said of 

a noisy hound, no 
Jolly, a bitch in heat, 54, 58 
Jopey, juppey, to holloa, to 

cry out, to call, 171, 234 
Juge, jugge, judge 
Juggementz, judgments, 130 
JuiLL, July 
Juin, June 
Jus, juice 
JWERYD, worn 

Kareynes, carrion, 48, 58, 68 
Kele, cool, 91 
Kembe, comb, 127 
Kennettis, kenet, a small 

hunting hound, in 
Kepyn, keeping 
Kerre, kirre, kyrre, cure, 

CURÉE, quarry, reward of 

hounds. See Curée 
Keuere, cover, 65 
Keuered, covered, 80 
Kitte, to cut, sharp, 95 
Kittyng, cutting, 50 
Knobber, stag in second year 

or broket, App. 
Knyff, knife, 90 
Kounyngly, cunningly ; also 

wisely 
Kunne, ken, to know, to be 

able, 15 
Kyde, roebuck in first year 
Kyen, kine, cattle, 120 
Kylleic, Welsh for grease time 
Kyndeleth, bring forth (said 

of the hare), 181 
Kyndels, young hare, 19 
Kyndely, naturally, M.E. kin- 

dely, kendeliche, cundeliche 
Kynningly, cunningly 
Kytons, kyttons, kittens, 71 

Labelles, small flaps, 174 
Ladde, led 
Ladil, ladle 



Laies, pools, lakes 

Lair, the resting-place of the 

various kinds of deer, 10 
Lammas, Lammasse, August 

1, 2 
Lammasse of Peter Apos- 

tull, June 29 
Lappe, lap, 158 
Lasse, less, smaller 
Launcet, lancet 
Laundes, Londes, wild un- 
cultivated land, 36 
Lavey, unrestrained, wild, 1 1 1 
Leather, the skin of deer and 

of the wild boar, App. 
Leches, leeches, doctor or 

surgeon, 12 
Leder, leather, 126 
Lefrer, lévrier, greyhound 
Left, last, or live 
Legges, legs 
Leie, lair 

Leire, river Loire in France, 77 
Leires, lair, bed of a stag, 136 
Leith, layeth 
Lekes, leeks, 90 
Lernyd, learned, taught 
Lese, leash, 59 
Leseth, loseth, 52 
Less, of the, term used in 

counting the tines, App. 
Lesses, Fr. laissées, excrements 

of boar and wolves, 139, 146 
Lesshe, lesse, lesche, leash, 

140 
Lesshes, lesses, inferiors, 189 
Lesyng, loosing, 119 
Lette, hindered, 51, 163 
Leuere, leaver, rather, sooner 
Leurettis, leverets, 19 
Leuve, leave, 31 
Leuys, leues, leaves, 138 
Levir, leaver, rather 
Lévrier, a hare hound 
Liam, lyam, rope by which the 

limer was held 
Libard, leopard, 70 



GLOSSARY 



291 



Liff, life, 31 

Liflode, LYVELODE,livelihood, 
59 

Ligging, lygging, lair, resting- 
place, 24, 71, 149, 191 

Lippis, lips 

LlTERE, litter 

LOGGES, lodges, 190 

Londe, land, 75 

Louen, love 

Loupes corryners {loup cer- 
viers), lynx ; occasionally it 
was probably applied to the 
wolverine, 70 

Lowre, laugh, 81 

Luce, pike, 113 

Lyff, life 

Lymer, a tracking hound on a 
leash,3i, 3 8,i52, 157,167-9,235 

Lymmes, limbs 

Lymner, lymerer, limerer, 
man who leads hounds on a 
leash, 148, 166, 235 

Lymnere, used both for man 
and hound, App. 

Lynsed, linseed, 104 

Lyoun, lion 

Lythis, lightis, lungs 

Lyven, lyuen, live 

Maistives, mastif, mastiff 

Maistris, masters 

Malemort, glanders, 96 

Malencolious, melancholy 

Malice, cunning, 34 

Mamewe, mamunesre, mam- 
eue, mauewe, mange, 90, 91 

MANESSETH, threatening, 51 

Mannys, man's, 151 

Marches, district, 19 

Marie, marrow 

Marrubium album, white 
horehound {Marrubium vul- 
gar e), 101 

Martryn, martin, 73 

Mary Magdalene day, July 
22nd, 26 



Mascle, masche, male, 67 

Mastin, a hound used for boar- 
hunting, a mongrel 

Matere, matter 

Mayned, maimed, bitten 

Mayntyn, maintain 

Maystif, mastif, mestifis, 
MASTOWE, mastiff, 118, 122, 
App. 

MAYSTRE, MAISTRIE, MAIS- 
TRICE, MAYSTRY, mastery, 

skill, 71, 107 
Meche, big, 113 
Mede, meadow, 163 
Medle, medel, mix, 91 
MENE, lesser, small, 128 
Menée, mennee, note sounded 

on a horn ; also the baying of 

a hound hunting, 171, 179 
Meng, menge, mingle, 102 
Merrein, the main beam of 

a stag's antlers, App. 
Mervaile, marvel 
Merveiliost, most marvellous, 

181 
Merveillous, merueylous, 

marvellous 
Mestifis, mastifs, 118, 122 
Metis, meats 
Metyng, metyngis, meet, 

meeting, 148 
Metynge, metyng, feeding or 

pasture of deer, 9, 25, 34, 

152 
Meue, mew, meve, move, 

start, shed, 26, 42, 166 
Meule, mule, burr, part of 

the antler, App. 
Meute, pack of hounds 
Mevethe, meweth, to mew, 

casts or sheds. See Meue 
Mews, house for hawks 
Modir, mother, 105 
Modirwort, motherwort (Leo- 

nurus cardiaca), 10 1 
MONYTHE, MONETH, MONE- 

thenys, month, 27 



292 



GLOSSARY 



Moote, mote, a note or horn 
signal, App. 

MORFOUND, MORFOND, to Catch 

cold, glanders, 124 
MORNYNGIS, morning, 7 
MORSUS galline, chickweed, 

101 
Mort, a note sounded on the 

horn at the death of the hart 
MOSEL, MOSELLE, muzzle, 77 
Mote, MOOTE, a note sounded 

on the horn, 168, 185 
Motying, moving, 150 
MOUNTENANCE, MOUNTANCE, 

extent of, as far as, 21, 101 

Moustenesse, moisture, 124 
Mow, mowe, mowen, to have 

power, to be able, 97, 178 
Mowse, burr of an antler 
Mue, mew, shed antlers, or 

feathers, molt. See Meue 
Mule, meule, burr of a stag's 

antler, 141 . 
Mute, meute, a pack of hounds 
Myche, the assibulated form of 

mitkel, mikl, great, much, 41 
Myddes, midst 
Myddil, middle 
Mynde, memory, 2 
Mysiugen, misjudge, 29 

Nail, name given to a disease 

in dogs' eyes, now called 

Pterygium, 94 
Nartheless, natheless, 

nevertheless, 149 
Natyuite, nativity 
Nedel, needle, 61 
Nekys, neke, neckyd, neck, 

necked, App. 
Nemeth, taketh, 75 
Nempe, name, 165 
Neres, kidneys 
Nesche, neyssh, nessh, soft, 

tender, moist, 52, 130, 131 
Nethir, nether, lower 
Nettelis, nettles, 89, 101 



NEWLICH, newly, freshly 
Nombles, nomblis, part of the 

stag's intestines, App. 
NOONE, no more 
NOORCHE, NORSHE, NORSSH, 

nourish, to bring up, to edu- 
cate, 56, 58, 80 

NOOSETHERLIS, NOSETHREL- 

LES, nostrils, 96, 105 
Nurture, bringing up, 30 
Notis, nuts, 91 
Nough, nigh 

Noyaunce, annoyance, 163 
Nyme, to take, to hold 

Okis, oaks, 144 

Olyff, olive, 90, 102 

Onys, once, 156 

Oo, OON, one, 17 

Opene, opyn, open (of hounds 

to give tongue), 108, 155 
Or, ere, before, 17 
ORDEYNE, ordain 
Orped, brave, valiant, 107 
Os, the dew-claws of the stag 

and hind, App. 
Oscorbin (os corbin), a small 

bone in the stag's body given 

to the crows, App. 

OSTORACES CALAMYNT, Storax 

or resin, 96 
Otyr, otere, otter, 72-4 
Ouerj awes, upper jaws, 176 
Ouersette, overcome, 60, 66 
OUERWHERTE, athwart, 87 
Ourshette, overshoot, 159 
Ouyr, over 

OWETH, OWEN, OUght 

OWRERS, harriers 
Oye, eye, 157 
Oyle, oil, 102 

Paas, piz, chest, T14 
Paas, pace, to walk slowly 
Pace, slot, track of stag, 132 
Pamed, palmated 
Parasceve, Parasseue, Good 
Friday 



GLOSSARY 



293 



Parfiters,parfitors,parfit- 

OURS, PARFYTEIROS, the third 

or last relay of hounds 7, 10 
Partel, a part of portion 
Parteyneth, appertained 
Partie, part 

Pase, pace, to step slowly, 130 
Pearls, the excrescences on 

the stag's antlers, App. 
Pece, piece 

Peechtre, peochetre, peach- 
tree, 102 
Pel, Y x. peau, skin 
Percel, parsley, 101 
Perche, the main beam of the 

stag's antler, App. 
Perfite, perfeet, perfit, 

perfect ; also note sounded on 

the horn, 174 
Peritorie, wall pellitory 

(Parie taria), 10 1 
Pesen, peas, 26 
Peseth, paceth, 149 
Peyn, pain 
Pierrures, "pearls" or ex- 

crescencesonthe stag'santlers 
Pilches, pelisse, a coat of skin 

or fur, 63 
Playn contre, clear open 1 

country, 19, 65 
Playnes, plains 
Playstire, plaster 
Plecke, plek, pleck, plecca, J 

piece of ground, place, 183 
Pleyn, pleyneth, complain, 

lament, 51 
Pleyn, playneth, pleignen, ! 

Fr. pleigner, complain, lament i 
Pgtntyng, pointing, track of 

hare 
Polcattes, polecats, 73 
Pomeled, mottled, dappled, 

spotted, 45 
Poonde, POON, pond 
POORT, parts, behaviour, man- 
ners, 4 
Popy, puppy 



Porche. See Perche 

POUERE, POUER, power, 164 

Pouture, keep, food, used in 
connection with hounds 

POYNTED, painted 

Preef, proof, 88 

Prees, press, crowd, 118 

Preuyd, proved, 90 

Preuyli, priuyli, privily, 149 

Price, prise, priée, take, 
capture 

Pricket, priket, the fallow 
buck in his second year, App. 

Prik, prick, to hunt, 116 

Prikherid curris, rough- 
coated curs, App. 

Prikkyng, pricking, footprint 
of hare, App. 

Prime, noon (hie prime), midday 

Prise, prize, pryce, a horn 
signal blown in France for the 
buck, in England for the hart 
and buck after the kill, 175 

Prive, tame 

Procatours, proctors, 195 

PROFITENESS, perfectness, 2 

PULEGRUN,pennyroyal(M£;///w 
ftulegium), 20 

PULLETH, POILETH, take the 
hair off, Yx.fioiler, 90 

PURSNETTIS, purse-nets, 67 

Purueaunce, perseverance, 80 

PUTTES, pits 

Pyche, pitch 

Pyles, piles, the skin of the 
boar, wolf, and smaller animals 

Pynsours, pincers, 98 

QUALES, quails, 119 

Quarry, the reward given to 

the hounds. See Curée, App. 
Quat, couched, lying down, 

used for deer, 172 
Quattell, to quat, to squat, 

to crouch, to lie down, App. 

QUESTY, QUEST, to hunt, to 

give tongue, no, 130, 155 



2 9 4 



GLOSSARY 



QUYERE,QUYRRE,QUIR,QUARE, 
curée, quarry for hounds, 
reward, App. 

QUYK, EUELIS, QUICKEVIL, a 

disease of hounds 
QUYRRCIS, reward given to 

hounds. See Curée, App. 

Racches, hounds, 3, 74, 167 

Rage, madness 

Ragerunet, ragemuet, dumb 

madness, 86 
Rascaile, rascayle, ras- 
kaile, lean deer ; any deer 
under ten was usually called 
rascal, 7, 25, 150, 193 
Raveyn, prey, rapine, 57, 66 
Real, reall, a tine (in France, 

the bay) on the stag's antler 
Reame, reaume, realm, 78 
Rear to, to dislodge a wild 

boar, App. 
Rebelly, rebellious, unruly, 191 
Rechase, recheat, sound a note 
on the horn, to call back the 
hounds by sound of horn, 
also to put them on the right 
scent, 168, 178, 191-8, App. 
Reche, to reck, to care, 57, 131 
Recheless, reckless 
RECOPES, recoupling, 179 
REFRAiED,REFREiDE,refrected, 

chilled, cooled, 47, 99 
Reies, nets, App. 
Relaies, relays (of hounds), 165 
Releved, Fr. relever, said of 
the hare rising from her form 
to go to her pasture, 14, 183 
Relie, relye, rally, 167 
Remeuye, remeyid, removed 
Rennen, rained, rains 
Rennyng, renneth, running 
Renouet, renovel, Fr. renou- 
veler^ to renew, 48 
Resceyued, received 
RESEEYUOUR, receiver, a grey- 
hound in front of deer, 198 



Reseityng, reseating 
Resouns, resouns, resons, 

reasons, 6 
RESTIF, quiet, restive, unwilling 

to go or to move forward, 

109 
Restreyed, restrained, held 

back, 109 
Retreyed, retrieved, 29 
Reuere, revere, river 
Rewe, rue, 90 
Rewe, row, 193 
Rewle, rule, 55 
Rewme, Fr. rhume, a cold, 96 
Reyne, rain, 21 
Reyndere, reindeer 
Reyson,reyse, raising, raise, 29 
Rialle, rial, royal, also tine 

of stag's antlers, 28, 140 

RlDINGTIME, REDENGTIME, 

bucking time of the hare, 

20 
Rig, ragge, backbone, App. 
Riot, 74, App. 
Roches, roj 
Rodes, rods 
ROTELYNG, rattling, 162 
ROUNGETH, Fr. ronger, chews 

the cud, 181, App. 
Rouse to, rowze, rouse, to 

dislodge buck or doe, App. 
Rout, a number of wolves, 62 
Routes, synonymous with slot, 

line of deer, 132 
Royal, a tine, sometimes the 

trez tine {see Rialle), 28, 140 
Ruettis, horn or trumpet, 128 
RUSYNG, rusing, 31,45, 173 
Rutsomtime, rutson, rutte, 

rutting time of deer, 24, 109 
Ryges, back, haunches, 17 
Ryghtes, rights, a stag's rights, 

three lower tines of antlers ; 

a hound was in his " rights " 

when hunting line, 174 
Ryot, noise, 121 
Ryuere, reuere, river, yy 



GLOSSARY 



295 



SAYNOLFES,SPAYNELS,spaniels, 
119 

Scantilonn, measure, 150, 165 
SCOMBRE, SCOMBERE (stercoro 

in MS. Bod. 546), voiding 

excrements, 100, 127 
Scomfited, discomfited, 82 
Seat, the form of a hare, 16 
Seche, seek 

Sechyng, sekyng, seeking, 1 10 
Seegh, seghe, saw, 13 
Seeld, seelden, seldom, 181 
Selidoyn, celandine, 94 
Semblaunt, semblance, pre- 
tence, 16 
Semble, assembly or meet, 9 
SEMOLY, seemly, 75 
Sengler, wild boar {Sanglier) 
Sens, incense, 96 
Sentyn, scent 
Serchyng, searching, 6, 29 
Sergeauntis, sergeants, 165 
Sesounn, sesoun, seson, 

season, 29 
Sesours, seizers, 114, 117 
Sette, set, place, part of forest 

round which "stables" or 

stations of men and hounds 

were placed, 149, 189 
Sewe, sue, Fr. suir, hunt, 

pursue, 150, 161 
Sewet, suet, fat of deer 
Sewre, swear 
Seyn, say, see 
Shap, shape 
Shapon, shaped 
Sheeld, shield, shoulder of a 

boar, 49 
Sheellen, shall 
Sheerde, cut, wound, 99 
Shent, shamed, disgraced, 79 
Sikerli, securely, 159 
Singular, the wild boar when 

he leaves the sounder, App. 
Skirtis, skyrtis, the skin and 

tissue surroundingthe stomach 
Skulk, a number of foxes, App. 



Slawthe, sloth, 5 

SLOUGH, lower part of the heart 

Slug-hound, a sleuth-hound, 

a track hound, App. 
Slyke, slick, sleek or smooth, 44 
Smet, smytten, smitten, 192 
Snawe, snow 

Soar, a buck in his fourth year 
SOEPOL, wild thyme {Thymus 

serpyllum), 20 
SOILE, SOULE, SOUILLE, wallow- 
ing pool, soil or mud ; " to 
soil" means when a deer or 
wild boar takes to water or 
wallows in it, 37, 50, 144 
Soiourne, soiourn, soiour- 
nying, sojorn, sojourn, to 
remain, 98 
Solere, upper chamber, 126 
Somedele, somewhat 
Somere, SOMER, summer, 45 
Sone, soon 
Sonne, sunne, sun, 9 
Sonne, soune, sound 
Sopere, soper, supper, 180 
SOPPE,SOPPERS, herd of deer, 25 
SORRELL, a buck in his third year 
Sotelly, subtlety, cleverly 

SOTIL, SOTILLE, SOTILTE, 
subtle, clever, 67, 80, 95 

Soule, soile, alone, 168 

Sounder, soundre, sundre, 
a herd of wild boars, 53, 143 

Sour, stag of fourth year, the 
colour of a deer's hide ; ac- 
cording to Roquefort, a herd 
of swine, App. 

SOUSSE, oxide of zinc, 95 

Souz-real, Souch-real, sur- 
ryal, sur- antler, a tine of the 
stag's head, 140, 177, App. 

Sowle, soul, 12 

Spainel, spaynels, spaniel 

SPARHAUKE, sparrowhawk, 114 

Spatell, spittle, 92 

Spay, to kill a deer with a sword 
10, 174, 258;to castrate, 84,258 



296 



GLOSSARY 



Spayard, spayde, spayer, 
spycard, the stag in his third 
year, App. 

Spaynel, spaniel, 1 19 

Speies, spires, young wood, 157 

Spires, spoyes, stalks, young 
wood ; thick spires means 
thick wood, 65, 118 

SPITOUS, despiteful, 115 

Spraintes, spraytyng, excre- 
ments of the otter, 73, 139 

Springol, springald, spring- 
old, SPRINGALL, siege engine 
to throw stones or balks of 
timber, 23 

Stable, stablys, Fr. establie, 
a post or station of huntsmen 
and hounds, 188 

Staggart, the stag in his fourth 
year, 29, 131 

Stalk, to go softly, creep, 
"Stalk the deer full still" 
(used by John Lydgate, about 
1430) 

Stall, to corner, to bring to 
bay, to stand still, 153 

Stanc, stank, stanges, 
STANGKES, Fr. esta?ic, pool, 
tank, pond, 32, 72 

Steppis, steps, footprint of 
deer, 73, 137 

Stere, stir, 91 

Stert, stirt, start 

Stinte, stynte, to stop, to 
blow a stint — i.e. to stop or 
check the hounds, a false scent, 
check, 19, 165 

Stone-BOW, Fr. arc-à-pierre, a 
kind of crossbow 

Stoonys, stones, 143 

Stordy, estoraie, giddy, 116 

Stoupen, stoop 

Strake, to blow, 178 

Strangle, straggle, 188 

Stranling, stranlyn, squirrel 

Stratere, straighter 

Str aught, straight, 128 



Strenge, strength, strong- 
hold, thick woods, 16, 1 18, 1 56 

Strengeste, strongest 

Strepid, to strip 

Streynour, strainer 

Streynt, strain, progeny or 
breed 

Stripid, stripped, term to de- 
note skinning of hare, wild 
boar, and wolf, App. 

Stroke, strake, or stuke, 
to sound a note on a hunting- 
horn, 52 

Strong, said of woods and 
coverts, thick, dense, 25 

Sue, to seek, to hunt, 161 

Suers, followers 

Suet, the fat of the red-deer 
and fallow-deer 

Suete, sweet, 19 

Sugre, sugar 

Surantler, a tine, generally 
the bay 

SUR-ROYAL,the surroyal tine, 28 

Sure batyd (of hounds' feet), 
battered, bruised from over 
running, 98 

Susrial, surroyal tine 

Stynt, at fault ; to stop 

Suyte, suite, following 

Swef, a hunting cry, meaning 
gently or softly, 182 

Swerde, sword, 1 1 

SwoOR, swore 

Swoot, SWOTE, sweat 

Sylvestres, beasts of venery — 
i.e. red-deer, hare, boar, and 
wolf, App. 

Synnes, sins, 7 

Synowes, synewes, sinews 

Sythes, times 

TACCHES, habits, also spots, 

markings, 121 
Taloun, talon, heel, 130, 131 
Tawed, a kind of tanning, pre- 
paration of white leathers, 63 



GLOSSARY 



297 



Tawne, tan, tawny, 105 

Taylyd, tailed 

Teaser, teazer, tesours, a 

small hound that "teases" 

forth the game in coverts, 189 
Teg, the fallow doe in her second 

year 
Tent, tended, cared for, 103 
Tercelle, tiercel, the male 

of any species of hawk, 1 19 
Terer, teerors, terrier, 4 
Terpse, to poise an arrow for 

shooting 
Terryers, terriers, 4 
Teste, head or antlers {tête) 
Teyntes, touches, 65 
Thenderleggis, hind legs 
Thenkyngis, thinking, 75 
Thennes, thence 
Thidere, thither 
Toches, teeth, 50, 56 
Togadere, TOGIDRE, together 
Tokenys, tokens, 86 
TOSSHES, tusks 
Tounge, TOONG, tongue 
TOURE, tower, 77 
Towailles, towels, 164 
Townge, tunge, tongue 
Trace, track or footprint of an 

animal, 9, 73, 130, 137 
Trauaille, travayle, Fr. 

travaille^ work, labour, 54, 93 
Tredeles, excrements of otter, 

73 
Trenchour, trencher, 174 
TRESTES, tryst, trist, 190 
Tresteth, trusteth, 49 
Treu, trewe, true, faithful 
Trip, a herd of tame swine, 53 
Trochis, troches, the tines 

"on top," 28, 135, 140 
Trodes, trod 

Troweth, believes or knows 
Trustre, tryst, 118 
Twies, twyes, twice, 82 
Twin, between 
Twygges, twigs, 22 
Tyme, season 



TYNDES, TYNYS, tines, 132, 142 
Tysane, a medicinal tea, 11 

Umbicast, to cast round, 151 
Undirnethe, underneath 
Undoing, dressing of a deer 
Undoon, undone, to cut up 
Unneth, scarcely, 80 
Unsicker, uncertain 
Unthende, unsuccessful 
Unwayssh, unwashed 
Unwp:xid, unwaxed 
Unyoyne, unjoin, 97 
Uprear TO, finding of the hart 
buck, and boar with the limer 
Usyn, use 

Vanchasours, vanchasers, 
the relay of hounds that comes 
first, 7, 10 

Vannchace, the first in the 
chase, 7, 10 

Vauntellay, yauntlay, 
vnlay, part of the pack held 
in reserve, when uncoupled 
on the line of the stag before 
the hounds already hunting 
had passed, 169, 172 

Veel, calf, used sometimes for 
the stag in his first year, 
App. 

Veline, a horn signal, App. 

Veltraga, veltrarius, a 
hound, an alaunt, App. 

Vent to, said of an otter when 
it comes to surface of water 
for air ; also to empty, to cast 
excrements, App. 

Ventrers, ventreres, 116, 117 

VeNyin, venom 

Verfull, a glassful, 101 

Verrey, truly, true, 75, 105 

Vertegrece, vertegres, ver- 
digris, 91 

Vesteing, investigating, look- 
ing, 151 

Veutreres, veautre, boar- 
hound 



298 



GLOSSARY 



Veyn, vein 

VlSHiTETH,voiding excrements, 
66 

Vmblis, umbles 

Vndirtakyng, undertaking 

VNDYRSTONDYNG, understand- 
ing 

Vngles, bugles, 128 

Vnnanys, onions, 102 

Voide, voyde, leave, go away, 
empty, 51, 191 

VoiDEN, to purge, 61 

Vois, voys, voice, 66 

Voynes, veins, 99 

WAGGYNG, excrements of foxes, 

139 

Waies, way, track 

Walouyng, wallowing, 146 

Waltrer, welter 

Wanlace, put up game, 122 

Waraunt, warrant, save, 31 

Warderobe, werdrobe, ex- 
crement of badgers, 139 

Ware, aware ; also war, beware 

Wareyn, wareyns, warren, 66 

Warly, warily 

Wayssh, wash 

Wedir, weather, 8 

Wedis, weeds 

Welex, grow, 163 

Welle, wolle, wool 

Welspedde, well sped 

Wene, know, to think 

Wered, worn 

Werkis, works, 5 

Wervolf, werwolfe, a man- 
eating wolf, 59 

Wery, weary, 107 

Wete, to wit, to know, 137 

Wex, wax, to grow, 56, 85 

Wexed, waxed, 128 

Wexing, wexyn, growth, 26 

Weytinge, waiting 

Wheder, whether 

WHITLY, whiter 

Wif, wift, wife, 75 

Wode, wood 



WODEMANNYS, woodman's, 129 
Wodmanly, woodmanly, 176 
Wold, wish or would 
Wones, dwellings 

WONNED, WOUNED, wont, ac- 

customed, 85 
Woode, wode, mad, 61, 85 
Woodness, madness, 85 
Woote, know, 43 
Worth up, on horse, mount 

on horseback, 175 
Wortes, vegetables, roots, 1 1 
Woxen, part of verb wax, to 

grow 
Wreech,wreche, wretched, 5 5 
Wrethis, wreaths, 133 
Wroot, to root, 48, 144 
Wrooth, wrath, 49 
WRYTENG, writing, 200 
WURTHYNES, worthiness 
Wyleli, wililiche, wilily, 31 
Wymmen, women, 200 
Wynde, wind, scent, smell 
Wyndeth, winds, scents, 17 

Ybrend, burnt, dry, 134 

Yede, went, 150, 166 

Yeman, yeoman, 148, 165 

Yeue, give, no 

Yfeted, made, well or evil 
shaped 

Yflanked, a species of mad- 
ness in hounds, " lank mad- 
ness," 88 

Yfore, therefore 

Yfounde, found, 164 

Ygote, begotten, bred 

Yhewe, hewn, 152 

Ylaft, left, 178 

Ymakyd, made 

Ynowe, ynow, enough, 1 

YONGIS, young 

YOULE, howl 

YPOCRAS, Hippocras, n 

Ypoticaries, apothecary, 84, 
101 

Yrest, rested, 136 

Ythowzt, thought of 



INDEX 



ACQUILLEZ, 20I 

Affeted, 27, 201 
Agincourt, xi 
Agrimony, 100 
Aiguilles or needles, 61 
Alauntes, 3, 1 16-18, 202 
Antlers of the hart, 26, 140-3, 

203-4 
Appollo, King of Lyonnys, 76 
Aquitaine, xii 
Assembly, 7, 9, 150, 163-4 
Auberey of Montdidier, 80 
Aumarle, Duke of, xi 

Badger, 3, 68-9 

Badminton Library, xvi 

Baillie-Grohi 

Baiting, 118 

Baldric, 128 

Beaumont, 167, 182, 184 

Bellowing time, 160, 162 

Bercelet, 204 

Berners, or attendants on 

hounds, 165-9, 172, 174, 205 
Bisshunters, furhunters, 74, 206 
Blaine, xvi 
Blenches, trick, deceit, 159, 

206. 
Boar, wild — see Wild boar 
Boce, hump, 206 
Bodleian Library, xvii 
Boughs, 206 
Brache, 22 
Broches, 45 
Brocket, 130 
Buck, 3, 38-40, 109 



Burnish, 28 
Burr, 141 
Burrows, 68 
Butchers' hounds, 118 

Caboche, 176 

Camomile, 95 

Canker, the cure for, 99 

Cat, wild — see Wild cat 

Cecil's " Records of the Chase," 

xvi 
Celandine, 94 
Chacechiens, 148 
Change, 31, in, 207 
Chase, 3 

Chase, beasts of the, 3 
Chaucer, 2 
Claudoneus, 76 
Coney, 74 

Co?isolida major, 98 
Consolida ?nino?\ 98 
Contreongle, 150 
Cotton MS., British Mus., xii 
Couchers (setters), 120 
Couples, 126 
Curée, 7, 10, 29, 52, 173, 193, 

208-209 

DALZIEL, xvi 
D'Aumale; Due, xvii 
Deer tithes, 195 

Dryden, Sir Henry, xvii, Ap- 
pendix 



Encorne, 174 
Envoiced, 170 



299 



3oo 



INDEX 



Ergots of the hart, 130, 169 
Excrements — see Fumes 

F. G. de — see Gaston de 

Foix 
Farrow, giving birth to young 

pigs, 47, 48, 68 
Fees of huntsmen, 198 
Fence month, 210 
Ferrets, 72 
Fewte, track, 210 
Fewterer, 129, 211 
Finders, 7, 9, 165 
Foils, 32 
Foix, Gaston de— sec Gaston de 

Foix 
Forlonge, a horn signal, 212 
Fownes, Thomas, first pack of I Holy Cross, Feast of, 29, 49 

foxhounds established by, : Holy Rood, 23 

213 
Fox, the, 3, 64-67, 68, 212 
Foxhounds, first pack of, 213 
Fray, 135 
Fraying-post, 214 
Froissart, xii 
Fues, track, 10, 31, III, 158, 

168, 214 
Fuite, track, 210 
Fumes, 9, 17, 29, 39, 73, 133, 

209-210 



j Harbour, 9, 38 

I Hardel, 45, 218 

I Hare, 3, 14-22, 109, 181-7, 219- 

222 
I Hare pipes, 22 

Haronblast, 27 

Harness, 30, 60, 222 

Harrier, ill, 196, 222-4 

Hart, 3, 7, 23-37, 109, 140, 148- 
151, 165, 191-9,224-7 

Harting, J. E., xvii 

Hausse-piez, the, 61 

Hawks, 1, 119, 120 

Hayes or haia, 67, 74 

Henry IV., King of England, 
xi, 1 

Hippocras, 1 



Horn, hunter's, 4, 128, 227 

Horse, 69, 95 

Hound, 1, 3,30, 31,75-84,85- 

104, 105-112 
Hunter, 4, 8, 123 
Hunting cries, 150, 166-180, 

181-7, 191, 229 ; music, 168, 

178, 191-9, 231-4, 244; 

seasons, 253 



Fute, track, 210 

Garlic, 89 

aston d 

203, and App. 
Gathering — see Assembly 
Gins, 30 

Gladness or glade, 214 
Grease or fat of game, 25, 30, 

36, 69, 214 
Grease time, 215 
Greyhound, the, 3, 24, 30, 45, 

59, 62, 65, 70, no, 1 1 3-1 15, 

189, 197, 216-8 
Grinders, 50 
Guienne, xxi, 3 
Guyenne loup cefviers, 70 



Idleness, the foundation of all 

evil, 5 
lllocques, 234 
Imagination, 5 
Iris, the, 93 

Jopeye, to holloa to the hounds, 
171,234 

Kenettes, small hounds, ill, 

235 
Kennel, 4, 125 
Kids, 42, 45 

Kindles of the hare, 20, 21 
King, hunting of the, 188-199 

Langley, Edmund of, xvi 
Latimer, 167 



INDEX 



301 



Lesses, 52 

Leverettes or kindles, 20, 21 

Ligging, a bed, a lair, 24, 71, 

235 
Lilies, medicinal qualities of, 

102 
Limer, a scenting hound, 31, 38, 

152, 157, 161, 167-9, 235-7 
Limerer, 150 
Loup cerviers, 70 
Lymer— see Limer 

Madness in the hound, 85, 86, 

237 
Makary slays Auberey of Mont- 

didier, 81 
Mallows, 102 

Mange in the hound, 90, 91 
Marten, 73 
Master of Game, xi-xix, xxiv, 

1, 2, 150, 163, 165, 175, 188 
Master of Herthounds, 198 
Mastiff, 3, 122, 204, 239-242 
Melbourne, William, 7^ 
Menée, the, 240-2 
Metynge, or feeding, 242 
Meute, 242 
Mew, to shed, 243 
Milbourne, 73 
Moot or mote, 179 
Mort or death, the, 197 
Mortimers, the, xii 
Motherwort, 101 
Move, to start a hare, 243 
Muse or meuse, 243 

Needles, 61 
Nets, 30, 67, 73 
Numbles, 243 

Otter, 3, 72-74, 244 

Parfet, the, 174, 244 
Parfitters, 7, 10, 245 
Parker, 189 
Partridge, 119 
Pennyroyal, 20 



Pevensey, xii 

Phoebus, Gaston, Count de Foix 

— see Gaston de Foix 
Pomeled, spotted, 45, 246 
Prise, the, 197 
Pterygium, 94 

Quail, 119 
Quarry, 127, 136 
Quest, 9, 130, 152, 154, 155, 156, 
157, 163 

Rabies — see Madness 
Raches, scenting-hounds, 3, 74, 

246, 250-3 
Rascal, 7, 25, 150, 193 
Relays, 7 
Resceyuour or receiver, 198, 

247 
Riot, 74, 249 
Roebuck, 41-5, 250 
Roosevelt, Th., xviii, xix-xxix 
Roy Modus, 202, 203, App. 
Royals (antlers), 28 
Rue, 96 
Ruets, 128 

Running hounds — see Raches 
Rutting, 23, 36, 109, 160, 161 
Ryding time, 20 

I Scantillon, a measure, 9, 253 
I Scotland, 120 

Scombre, 127 

Seasons of hunting, 253 

Seton, 103 

Setters, 120 

Seven deadly sins, 4 

Shakespeare, xi 

Shaw, Vero, xvi 

Shirley MS., 200 

Snares, 257 

Sounder or herd of wild swine, 

53 
Spain, 119 

Spaniel, the, 3, 119-121, 257 
Spay, to kill, 10, 174, 258 
Spay, to castrate, 84, 258 



302 



INDEX 



Spraintes of otter, 73, 139 

Springole, 23 

Spurge, 48 

Squire, a companion of the hart, 

26 
Stable-stand, 188, 258 
Staggard, 29, 131 
Stankes, or pools, 33, 72, 260 
Stint, 19, 165, 171 
"Stinking foot,'' 211 
Storax, 96 
Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes," 

xv i 
Sur-royal of the hart, 28 
" Sweet foot," 211 

Tache, 260 

Tally Ho, etymology and use of, 

209 
Talon, 130 
Taw, to make hides into leather, 

63, 261 
Teazer, 198 
Terrier, 4 
Thyme, wild, 20 
Trace, footprint of deer, 9, 137, 

141 
Troche, 140 
Tryst, 118, 263 



Twety and Gifford, 201, App. 
Twici, William, 201, App. 
Tysane, 11 

Valerian, 91 

Vanchasers, 7, 10 

Vauntlay, to cast off, 169, 172 

Veltresj 263 

Venery, beasts of, 3, 52, App. 

Vixen, 64 

Wagging, 139 

Wall pellitory, 101 

Wanlace, 204, 264 

Wardrobe, 139 

Wer-wolves, 59 

Wild boar, 3, 23, 46-53, 264 

Wild cat and its nature, 3, 70- 

71, 144, 265 
Wilton, Lord, xvi 
Wolf, 3, 54-63, 266 
Woodman's craft, 176 
Worming a dog, 87 
Wright, xv 
Wynn, xvi 

Yeoman at horse, 165 
Yeomen berners on foot, 165 
York, Duke of, xi., xii 



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